“This is the best oyster in the world.” - Salinity SeaEO Emily Wilder & almost everyone she’s ever seen eat them.

These wonderful oysters have a deceptively tiny size for their value - like the essence of the Pacific Northwest distilled into a tiny morsel. As much complexity as the finest single malt scotch! You can practically taste the forest in this tiny little sweet coppery oceany bite. And the colors inside the Olympia shells are the prettiest of all the edible oysters grown in North America.

This is a slow-growing oyster native to the Puget Sound and West Coast of North America. Only a few farms grow them now, and very few exist in the wild anymore after they were almost wiped out by pollution and overharvesting in the late 1800s and early 1900s - but Puget Sound Restoration Fund is working to change that! ALL oysters provide valuable hiding spots and water filtration services to their ecosystem, so the more the merry.

Grown by the Swinomish Tribe in Similk Bay in northern Puget Sound, Washington, where the Pacific ocean water meets fresh river and estuary water to create a medium salinity bay perfect for growing shellfish.

Harvested fresh to order and kept live on ice all the way to your door. Do you need an oyster shucking knife? Get one here or bake/steam them until they open.

Check out the interactive oyster tasting app we designed! Download the Sample Ox app for free and search 'Salinity' to find a shell and flavor questionnaire. Use it for any oyster to share tasting notes with friends, record flavor differences between species, and compare your records across the seasons.

Company: Swinomish Shellfish Company

Farm Location: Similk Bay, Swinomish Tribal Land, near Fidalgo Island, Washington State

Species: Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida)

Size: 1.5-2 inches (2.5-3 years old at harvest)

Amount: Order by bags of 1 dozen, 2 dozen, 3 dozen, 4 dozen, or 5 dozen. Contact us for larger amount discounts!

Warnings: Contains live shellfish, potential allergen. Consuming raw shellfish might increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions.

Safety: If kept between 38-42 degrees and from a reputable farm (monitored by health officials), with no bad smell to the oyster and plenty of liquid inside the oyster's shell when opened, that oyster should be generally considered safe to eat! Safe to eat raw or cooked for 3-8 days (as long as the oyster can keep itself alive by holding its shell closed). Never store the live oysters in water. Do not eat if the shell opens on its own, or if there is no liquid inside (the oyster should be swimming in liquid). Always smell an oyster before eating it, hoping to get a faint whiff of ocean breeze - DO NOT EAT IF IT SMELLS LIKE BAD/FISHY/ROTTING SEAWEED AT LOW TIDE. Contact us or click the Chat button in the bottom left corner if you have any questions at all!

Short-Term Storage: Highly Perishable. Store in the fridge between 38-42 degrees F at all times, do not store in water. Lower temperatures are fine temporarily when transporting in a cooler with too many ice packs, but too long below 32 degrees F and the oysters will die. Keep refrigerated in an open bag, colander, or bowl with an optional damp towel (never in an airtight container and never in water). Eat raw on the half shell, in shots, baked, grilled, steamed, sautéed, fried, etc! 

Long-Term Storage: Frozen. If frozen in a home freezer instead of an industrial flash-freezer, oysters frozen in the shell can turn dark in color and lose their texture. Shuck or steam the oysters open and freeze the meat in small pieces (ice cube trays, sheet pan, etc) before transferring to an airtight container. Use for protein and flavor in soups, stir fries, and dishes where the oyster's original texture is less of an issue.

CANNOT BE SHIPPED INTO TEXAS. Hawaii requires import permit before shipment. Additional fee for some parts of Alaska. See FAQ for more info. Contact Salinity to arrange.