Head’s up, fellow oyster lovers!
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Yeah. Think Ima pass on those suckers until the colder months…
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When the food you’re eating eats you!
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It’s the circle of liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife
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Thanks for the head’s up. I was just about to order some MA Wellfleets. I’ll just stay away from oysters, period, for now.
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All the more reason to eschew the briny eyeballs!
People have come at me plenty of times both online and IRL for refusing to eat oysters in the summertime. Oh, but they arent skinnier in the summer, oh that’s an old wives tale, and oh, being in breeding season doesn’t change the taste.
This is why. It simply isn’t safe.
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With the climate change and rising sea water temperatures everywhere it will always be a risk eating oysters throughout the year.
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The risk is never zero.
But its closer to zero than 100 in the winter.
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That might actually more determined by the source of the oyster - I am in general not sure if eating oysters raw is throughout the year significantly below 50 on your scale. If I would have to pick one food/ingredient with the highest risk in general to get sick from at any time, it is oysters for me
I would generally agree, however I’d not sure I’d want to contract a flesh eating bacteria into my system. Norovirus is gross and annoying, but I’ve recovered from that without issue.
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Lets break it down this way.
Where i live the water is so warm this time of year (literally 90F or more) that it resembles a primordial soup. (Diving isnt much fun because its really cloudy). Wading in the water with an open wound is a really good way to end up with vibrio. (I do go in the water, but I rinse immediately, wash with soap when I get home, and carefully drwss any scratches ans scrapes). So there’s no way I’m eating raw anything from local waters in the summer.
In the winter I do eat oysters if its not a Monday…and they tell me where the oysters are from…and Im close to the coast and preferably near an area known for oysters.
And yet much to the chagrin of a few people I’m defiantly (and definitely) still here and still enjoying fresh oysters in rhe right situation.
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There’s always the one chance in the warmer months and I prefer not to take it.
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90°F sounds like a health hazard and that water hole should be closed to the public
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I have never been sick from oysters, but I have always followed the “if the month does not end with an R, do not order an oyster” rule. And September is usually given a miss as well.
The food that gets me sick the most often is mussels. Sometimes putting the ‘only partially opened’ ones to the side uneaten is not enough. Maybe they “poison” the broth? Not sure. But I have had days following a meal of mussels where I had to stay close to the bathroom. Nothing vacation ruining, but definitely cleans the system out.
Back to oysters, I have to wonder about my old standby, the Apalachicola oyster. It is not the absolute best oyster out there, and it may be one of the ones most at risk.
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The water hole is the Gulf and the Atlantic surrounding Florida. That’s how warm it is right now. Its also completely normal this time of year.
Its not going to be closed.
Yeah, Apalachicola is struggling right now. Between hurricanes and crazy warm weather, the industry is in bad shape.
On a somewhat better note, the clam farms off Crystal River and surrounding sreas are doing well…sweet little clams that arent an enormous splurge.
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And I git sht fer drinkin’ raw milk. 
Honestly, if I lived in a quality oyster area, I’d be slurpin’ too; just not these.
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Qe juat had an unfortunate incident in FL with raw milk…another thread, but even if I could drink milk I’d be over there with M. Pasteur.
