[Sca-cooks] Oysters in the shell vs. shucked oysters

[Stefan li Rous]

Cailte posted:
<<<  Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I never turn down bugs!  Yayz!

for your edification, information and drool-ification. 8)
  ah, the sweet torment when their adverts pop up in my
email.

http://www.crabplace.com/ >>>

Thanks. I think. Much of that looks very tempting, although I guess  
it is going to have to wait until I get a job. :-)
The Gulf Shrimp seem a bit high, but then for me that would mean  
paying to have them shipped from a few hours from me to the northeast  
and then back down to here. :-;

I do have a question about the oysters, though. The site gives their  
prices as:

Fresh Oysters in the Shell
      By the Dozen           $19.99
      By the 100 count       $79.99

Shucked Oysters
      By the Pint
30-40 per pint             $18.99
      By the Gallon
1 gallon = 8 pints        $119.99

The way I interpret this is that the shucked oysters are cheaper than  
the fresh oysters. ie: 12 fresh ones cost slightly more than 30-40  
shucked ones.  How can this be, since there is additional work in  
shucking the oysters? Is there a much higher demand for oysters in  
the shell, which would boost their price, compared to the shucked  
oysters? But in that case, why shuck them at all? Or do you lose some  
meat or something in the shucking process? Or since this company sets  
the shipping price by the total order cost rather than by the  
shipment weight, is charging more for the unshucked oysters simply a  
way to make back some of the higher shipping cost because of the  
extra weight of the shells?

Is there some reason I would want the oysters in the shell vs. the  
shucked oysters?

Thanks,
    Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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