The oyster season is officially open, so we have collected some facts about oysters.
1. Oysters contain a relatively high amount of magnesium and zinc.
2. In the seventeenth century, the oyster was a common food. Only later, when oysters became scarcer, did they become a delicacy.
3. In the Netherlands, the Grevelingen and the Oosterschelde are the most important breeding grounds. Yerseke is one of the most famous 'oyster villages'. France is the largest supplier worldwide.
4. Casanova ate as many as fifty oysters a day. According to some, the high zinc content in oysters promotes sperm production in men.
5. Oysters start out as males and after two or three years they turn into a female.
6. There is a difference between flat and hollow (creuse) oysters. The flat oyster grows more slowly and is therefore more expensive.
