Trey McMillan founded the “put-and-take” fishery, Lowcountry Oyster Co. in Charleston
There’s an old adage that you should only eat oysters during months with an R in them. With the advent of refrigeration and the growing popularity of oyster farming, that’s no longer true. “You can absolutely eat them all year,” says Trey McMillan, founder of Lowcountry Oyster Co. in Charleston.
That’s because wild oysters spawn in the summer months and become unpalatable, while farmed oysters are typically sterile, allowing them to grow larger and maintain good flavor in warm waters. McMillan started oyster farming after working as a fisherman for 15 years. “I was just burned out, just trying to hit the reset button, and landed on this,” he says. “[With oyster farming] I love the connection with food and humans, having the ability to show people where food comes from.”
Lowcountry Oyster Co. supplies restaurants and local events like SEWE and Lowcountry Oyster Festival with its bivalves, with a retail market in West Ashley that ships direct to consumers 24 hours after harvesting. He says the farm was producing below 2 million oysters a year, but after a recent expansion, they’re aiming to hit 5 million soon.
Despite the growth of aquaculture in recent years, oyster farming is often misunderstood. “When we say farm-raised, a lot of people automatically start thinking about pesticides and all this other stuff that really doesn’t apply to us,” says McMillan. “Mother Nature does most of it. We just give them a safe haven to thrive in.” The oysters naturally filter the water and create a habitat for crabs, shrimp, and fish. Lowcountry Oyster Co. is a “put-and-take” fishery, meaning they only harvest what they put out.
“They taste like a blast of salt, and then they get very smooth and almost like an olive brine or a chicken stock. We want to be the representation of the Southern oyster,” says McMillan. “We want everyone to know what a good thing it is. It’s a South Carolina-grown product.”
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Tate Jacaruso
Tate Jacaruso loves celebrating Southern food, travel, and culture as associate editor at the Local Palate. She is based in Charleston and is currently making her way through every bowl of pasta and oyster on the half shell in town. Her work has appeared in Charleston Living Magazine and CHStoday.