There’s just something about the American oysters that are growing in the Damariscotta River area. Maybe it’s the way the cold waters of the Atlantic mingle with the shallow, warmer water upstream. Maybe it’s the health of the clean estuaries thanks to the lack of foul storm-water runoff.
Whatever it is, Maine oysters are considered some of the best in North America, according to one cultured expert.
Oyster connoisseur and author Rowan Jacobsen, a Florida native now living in Vermont, says Maine has the best reputation for oysters than any other state on the East Coast. He believes the cold water, which slows the growing cycle, creates an oyster with a better texture and a more briny taste.
“In my experience, Maine oysters are always clean and light in flavor, with none of the low-tide funkiness you sometimes find in warmer-water oysters,” says Jacobsen. “And they are almost always extremely briny.”
