How We Do It

We're apt to brag that Rappahannock River Oysters™ grows only Crassostrea virginica, the Chesapeake Bay's native oyster. But since it's the only commercially legal oyster allowed in the Bay - currently, anyway - that boast falls a little flat. So how about we just say we're enormously proud to be growing this world-renowned oyster. And even if we had the whole phylum at our fingertips, we, as both connoisseurs and conservationists, wouldn't think of growing anything else . . . or growing it anyplace else.

Our techniques for growing our celebrated bivalve have changed a little since RRO's early days. Today our oysters are grown "off bottom," positioned squarely in the water column where food quality and quantity are greatly improved. Not only do the oysters grow faster, they grow richer, plumper, and rounder - and all under our watchful eye. We monitor salt and temperature levels, guard against predators, cull out slow growers and misshapen shells - all to ensure that the customer gets a consistently healthy, attractive, and succulent oyster.

Until the day they're ready to ship, our oysters are left feeding in the cool algae-rich waters, marinating in that perfect balance of minerals and brine to produce the unmistakable perfection that is the Bay oyster.