Coraline Brouez 5:18 p.m., August 28, 2021
An urban legend says that oysters cannot be eaten in all seasons.
True or false ?
Laurent Mariotte, helped by the famous oyster farmer Joël Dupuch seen in the film "Les Petits mouchoirs", tries to answer the question in the program "La Table des bons vivant" on Europe 1.
Legend has it that you can only eat oysters in the months marked "r": January, February, March, April, September, October, November and December.
But does the myth hold true?
This is what oyster farmer Joël Dupuch explains to us in Laurent Mariotte's program
La Table des bons vivants
.
>> Find La Table des bons vivant in podcast and in replay here
Refrigerated transport
"The rule of months in 'r' is a law which had been published by Colbert and which prohibited the transport of oysters outside these months to more than 20 leagues from the production sites", explains Joël Dupuch.
"From this ban on transport was born a habit of non-consumption during the harvest period. Today, it is over since we have oysters from all four seasons and refrigerated transport is perfectly adapted."
Diploid or triploid
So, if you fancy an oyster at the end of August, it's ok.
But be careful with what you consume because you should know that two kinds of oysters are marketed in France: diploids and triploids.
The first are natural oysters whose reproduction period occurs at the time of summer.
We cannot therefore find them on the stalls all year round.
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Unlike the triploid which is genetically modified and which does not spend any energy for the preparation of a reproductive cycle. It therefore grows faster than the others. This explains why we can eat them in all seasons.