Ode to oysters

New Zealand’s fresh Bluff oyster season is well and truly over, however diehards can still find the occasional fix of this succulent and slightly salty delicacy in fish shops, some restaurants, and also at their local chippie.

Of course, while they may be Bluff oysters, they’ll be frozen not fresh, until next year’s season. Pacific oysters (pictured) are still available until about November and are widely accessible throughout New Zealand.

Bluff oysters have long been considered the finest in the world, and this small shellfish is prized throughout the world.

New Zealand oystering first began commercially at Stewart Island in the 1860s. Coastal cutters were simply beached on the beds at high tide and the oysters shovelled aboard as the tide dropped. In 1879 new larger beds were discovered in deeper water and the centre of activity gradually shifted from Stewart Island to Bluff.

A quota system was introduced in 1963, although this was progressively reduced until in 1970 with 23 boats operating, it was 115,000 or 5000 per boat (in eating terms that equates to two dozen oysters for every man, woman and child in the country).

Estimates this season, from 1 March to 31 August were that around 7.5 million Bluff oysters were harvested and slurped down.