Veal and Pearl Onion B’stillaA hearty take on North Africa’s flaky meat pie. Each week, our editors will chat with a food innovator whose personal journey is oyster stew with canned oysters compelling as what they’re putting on the plate.

Get our favorite recipes, stories, and more delivered to your inbox. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Some types of pearl oysters are harvested for the pearl produced within the mantle. True oysters are members of the family Ostreidae. Almost all shell-bearing mollusks can secrete pearls, yet most are not very valuable. Pearls can form in both saltwater and freshwater environments.

The largest pearl-bearing oyster is the marine Pinctada maxima, which is roughly the size of a dinner plate. Not all individual oysters produce pearls naturally. In nature, pearl oysters produce pearls by covering a minute invasive object with nacre. Over the years, the irritating object is covered with enough layers of nacre to become a pearl.