10 foods that make America great

10) Olympia oysters (Washington)
Sometimes a food comes back from the brink. The Olympia oyster offers one of those happy stories.

At least it might.

Steve Ringman / Seattle Times via KRT Tiny Olympia oysters are a delicacy that almost vanished forever. Even now, only farmed Olympias may be eaten.

Once abundant in Northwest waters, this little bivalve (Ostrea lurida) was sought out by native tribes and settlers alike.  Native from southern Alaska to Baja California, they thrived in the shallow tidelands of the Washington coast. Timber ships in the mid-1800s regularly carried them south to San Francisco, ushering in the Northwest’s reputation as a shellfish haven; still more were shipped to Seattle.

Production soared by the 1890s, then fell off in the early 20^th century as waste from pulp mills and other pollution dwindled oyster stocks. As harvest of the Olympia dropped by 90 percent, oyster farmers imported non-native species like Pacific and virginica (Eastern) oysters to replace them. Those larger oysters crowded out their smaller cousins, and predators like the Japanese oyster drill, a snail, did further damage.

In 1998, Washington began a dedicated program to reseed wild oyster beds with the Olympia. At the same time, commercial farmers in southern Puget Sound carefully began to raise and harvest the Olympia for commercial sale in their own beds — resulting in a curious twist: Eating the Olympia can actually help fund its return.

It’s not quite a success yet. Olympias are still being harvested in miniscule numbers, though a similar restoration is under way in San Francisco Bay and aquatic conservationists like the Blue Ocean Institute are optimistic.

The oyster itself is a diminutive gem, from the size of a quarter to a half-dollar, subtle and slightly sweet when eaten raw, with an occasional metallic bite at the end. It’s a less filling, more delicate experience than slurping down a meaty virginica or Kumamoto.  But for shellfish lovers, it’s an experience not to be missed — one that nearly vanished forever into the muddy annals of American cuisine.