A taste workshop during the Salon du Goût de Montreal was about oysters. Kristin Donovan taught us everything we need to about this great food found in our Canadian waters! There are two major families of oysters in Canada, the Virginica from the East Coast and the Miyagi or Japanese from the West Coast.
The East Coast oysters have a mineral, limestone, metallic taste, and are saltier. They pair well with Rieslings and chardonnays. As for the West Coast varieties, they are plumper, less salty, and less mineral, they have a more plant-based, “green” taste, like cucumber, or melon.
The concept of “merroir”, in lieu of terroir is now defining oysters and their uniqueness because they can be from the same region but have a different taste. The merroir is based on the local vegetation, the place, the water temperature and the physical aspect of each oyster, these all play their role on the result and taste.
Here are pictures of the oysters we got to sample. The first one is from the East Coast and the second one from the West Coast.
Enjoy discovering them!
