6 Sources for Super-Fresh Mail-Order Oysters

Source fresh oysters for your next meal, cookout, or gathering by having them shipped to your doorstep. Here's where to order oysters online.

A convenient way to include oysters at your cookout is to have them shipped to your doorstep. If you get fresh oysters directly from an oyster farm, you won’t need to wonder how long they’ve been sitting high and dry at the local grocery store. They’re in the ocean one day, and you can slurp them down the next. Most farms require overnight shipping for freshness, so buy as local as possible to keep the FedEx bill (and your carbon footprint) down. (And get yourself an oyster knife if you don't have one already.)

Oyster whisperer Julie Qiu of In a Half Shell shares some of her favorite oyster sources from both coasts.

Fishers Island Oysters (Fishers Island, New York)

“You can’t get any fresher when you live in New York City,” says Qiu, which is why Fishers Island supplies some of the city’s best restaurants. She loves the Block Island Sound farm’s oysters for their crisp brininess and the company's message, aptly summed up in the hashtag motto #farmwithoutharm.

Pemaquid Oyster Company (Bristol, Maine)

Some of Qiu’s favorite oysters in the world come from the cold waters of Clark's Cove in coastal Maine. “Pemaquids are lovely, well-rounded oysters,” she says. You can purchase 50 to 300 from the Maine Oyster Company.

Island Creek Oysters (Duxbury, Massachusetts)

Island Creek is a large oyster company, and one that does things right. The customer service and packaging are excellent. Select oysters from Wellfleet, Cape Cod, and Island Creek in Massachusetts as well as varieties from Canada and Maine, other bivalves, shellfish, and caviar.

Hama Hama (Lilliwaup, Washington)

Hama Hama offers a terrific mix of flavors, textures, and sizes between its crisp and clean namesake oyster and the full-bodied Blue Pool, from its farm in the Hamma Hamma River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Check out the Oyster Starter Pack for a shucking knive, gloves, a towel, seasonal mignonette, and a tasting guide.

Hog Island Oyster Co. (Marshall, California)

Try the Hog Island Sweetwaters, described by Qiu as “a quintessential Pacific oyster,” among the seven oyster varieties available. The 40-year-old, sustainable company has a waterfront restaurant in San Francisco and offers very special holiday packs around Christmas.

Related: America's Best Oyster Bars

Taylor Shellfish Farms (Shelton, Washington)

Taylor is the largest oyster producer in the Pacific Northwest and consistently delivers quality mollusks. Kumamoto lovers, take note: Qiu thinks Taylor's are the best. You'll also find Olympia, Sumo Kumo, Taylor Pacific, and Virginica oysters, plus breading, shucked oyster meat, smoked dip, and baked and fried oyster kits. Taylor Shellfish has three oyster bars in Seattle and two Washington shellfish markets for traveling oyster fans.

For more Food & Wine news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Food & Wine.