How To Store Oysters At Home

If you look after your oysters they will be quite happy out of the water for about five days, maybe longer, they are much easier to look after than people think.

The benefit of buying your oysters from us is that we are an oyster farm, our oysters come straight from the oyster beds along the river and creeks outside the Fishery and into our purification tanks. Oysters are held in depuration for at least 42 hours where fresh, filtered and UV purified seawater cleans the oysters.

They are then packed from these tanks to order, they don't sit around or go from us to a wholesaler to a Fishmonger then to you, they are incredibly fresh to give you the most amount of time to enjoy them at their best.

When they arrive at your door they will have travelled overnight with our couriers in insulated packaging with cool packs to keep them nicely chilled. At your earliest opportunity take the oysters out of the packaging and if they are in a box remove the lid and place a damp cloth over them. If they are in a net place them in a clean bowl or colander and again cover with a damp cloth. Place the oysters in a cool place in your home, in the summer this might be the top of the fridge where it's warmest, in the winter they will be OK in your garage or protected outside. Personally, I have placed them a cool box by the back door when the fridge is too full and they are perfectly happy.

Remember to check on your oysters and try not to leave it more than a couple of days before you eat them, make sure you keep the cloth covering them damp and the oysters cool and you will be fine.

How to look after oysters at home:

• Always keep the oysters stored with the curved (convex) side downwards. This helps to retain the fluid in the shell and keep them alive.
• Store the oysters in a deep bowl (to prevent leaks) and away from other open foods.
• Keep them cool (4°C - 8°C is good). Remember, these are live animals so you don’t want to freeze them.
• Do not re-immerse oysters in water. They will have been properly purified at the depuration centre and any further immersion risks re-contaminating them.
• If stored as shown above the oysters should last at least 5 days.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before opening the oysters.
• Ensure that the oyster knife and the area you are working in is clean before you start.
• Serve promptly.