Where do PEARLS come from? 

Pearls are the answer for an oyster’s annoyance… As oysters are filter feeders, they suck in water and then filter it to obtain their nutrition in the form of plankton.  Some times an irritant such as a piece of sand gets sucked in at the same time. If the oyster cannot dispel the irritant, they will coat it with “shell” material to make it less intrusive.  Look at it like a scab forming over a cut… 

The oysters used for pearl culture are not the same ones used for culinary purposes.  The pearl “oyster” is actually more related to our common mussel.  The pearl oysters are of a particular species that produces the hardest, most attractive “pearl” and considered too expensive to consume.  The older a “pearl oyster” gets, the more attractive the pearls become.  I do not know of any one who has ever consumed a “Pearl Oyster”.  Someone from the Mikimoto family probably would execute them… 

Sometimes “pearls” do exist in our oysters.  Hence the number of earrings in my ears…           I stopped after six but I could have my entire body pierced.  The occurrence of pearls in natural oysters (those not farmed for pearls) is about one in one million oysters.  Therefore any pearls found in our oysters must be returned to me for additional body piercing. 

We sell oysters, not minerals…