When you think of seafood, oysters cannot be too far down on the list of foods you would love to eat  -most likely they will be in the top five, if not at the very top. There are so many recipe variations of them too; from the world famous Oysters Rockefeller to a tasty oyster soup, the possibilities are endless.

And thus, this delectable mollusk brought my attention to my next interviewee: Neal Maloney of the Morro Bay Oyster Company.

Neal really knows his business, having studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene where he got a Bachelor's Degree in Marine Biology with a minor in Business. Following this, he studied Invertebrate Zoology and Marine Ecology at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, and then went to Sonora, Mexico, to hone his skills.

Neal cultivates Pacific Oysters, having bought the seeds from Washington to grow them in Morro Bay in his 126 acre estuary since 2004. He has been selling them all along the coast ever since, selling to restaurants, and going to Farmers' Markets to sell them personally.

Neal enjoys the reactions he gets from people who try his products, which is no big surprise - having had the opportunity to eat them myself, they are absolutely stunning. While I was  interviewing Neal, I even observed a chef from a local well-known restaurant come straight to Neal to buy the oysters himself.

If that isn't a guarantee of quality, I don't know what is. We all know that excellent restaurants serve high quality food because they get the best ingredients!

Neal brings roughly a thousand oysters to the Farmers' Market, and if you sit back and observe how he works, and how popular the oysters are, you will notice the quantity diminishing considerably in just the first hour. You will see interest from many new and returning customers, who all greet Neal with a smile (which is fully returned by him) as they choose the amount and size of the oysters they want to get.


He also provided me with a couple of recipes to prepare them:

Traditional BBQ Oysters

-Pre-heat the grill to high heat.
-Put the oysters flat side down on the grill for roughly 15 minutes, until the water starts coming bubbling out of the them.
-Flip them around for another 10 minutes.
-Serve

Another delicious suggestion he gave me was to make garlic butter, open them, put some on them, along with some cheese and throw them into the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

So, if you're in the mood for seafood, make a beeline for Morro Bay Oysters at the Farmers' Market.