Aw, shucks: Enjoy Nova Scotia’s succulent oysters

One of the reasons to visit Nova Scotia is to enjoy the abundance of fresh, succulent seafood. An offering from the ocean that enjoys an almost celebrity status is the oyster. While it may not look appetizing from the outside, the fleshy interior is much-sought after. Those who eat them raw know there’s only one way in — shucking.

“It is an art,” says Colton D’Eon. You have to practice it a couple of times before you get good at it.”

Colton and his father Nolan have been shucking oysters at their Eel Lake Oyster Farms in Ste. Anne du Ruisseau, since 1996. The D’Eons say proper shucking starts with perfect selection.

“You pay a premium price for a nicely shaped oyster with a symmetrical shape and a deep cup — almost like a bowl.”

Oysters come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Their shells are far less predictable than a clam or a mussel shell. An oyster with a deep ‘cup’ in its shell will sit nicely on a bed of ice or seaweed once opened up.

“If it doesn’t have that bowl shape to it, the oyster will just slide right out.”

And you don’t want that when you’re entertaining guests. You also don’t want to injure yourself while flexing your shucking muscles. Oysters feed by opening their shells and allowing water to pass over their gills. When threatened, they close up good and tight and only a specially designed knife can make its way in.

“You have to have a shucking knife,” says D’Eon. “It’s not necessarily a sharp knife but you need a thick, strong knife with a blade that’s usually three inches long, made of stainless steel.”

There are plenty of videos online showing the technique for opening an oyster but it does take some skill and practice. Rinse your oysters first to remove any grit, then D’Eon recommends sliding the oyster between an oven mitt or towel to protect your hand.

“The way we do it, we open the shell up by the back — by the hinge. We find we can open up an oyster cleaner that way.”

Once you remove the top shell, half the battle is over. You then carefully slide the knife under the nugget of flesh in the cup to sever the muscle that connects the oyster to the bottom shell. Most people serve oysters just like this — on the half-shell.

“At the right time of year, the oyster meat almost has a firmness like the inside of a cucumber,” says D’Eon.

At this point, there’s only one thing left to do —reward your hard work with a fresh seafood snack.

For more information about oyster experiences in Nova Scotia, visit novascotia.com.