"I've never heard of them, " Rebecca Charles, owner of New York City's Pearl Oyster Bar, said of New Jersey's offerings.

WSJ: Planting Seeds for a Better Oyster Harvest

Slit open the bag and mist the contents with water, and pearl oyster mushrooms will begin to grow, until they are spilling out the side of the box, reaching their full-grown size in about 10 days.

CNN: Food waste a new opportunity for entrepreneurs

And if Seidman can pull off this goal, his investors may someday find a big pearl in that Oyster.

FORBES: The World's Hotels Are Oyster's Oyster

But finding a specific gene is as difficult as reaching blindly into an oyster bed hoping to find a pearl.

FORBES: Myriad's Gene Discovery Won't Pay Off--Yet

In the 1890s, Kokichi Mikimoto perfected the process of creating whole cultured pearls by introducing an irritant into an oyster's tissue, thereby making high-quality pearl jewelry more available and affordable.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Oyster shells abound with square holes punched out of the centres, gone to make mother-of-pearl buttons.

BBC: London from the tide line