SYDNEY ROCK OYSTERS, with their unique royal purple shell, are one of the rarest natural foods on the planet. “Less than 0.1 per cent of the oysters grown in the world are Sydney rock oysters,” says oyster farmer Brad Verdich. “That’s how rare they are. They’re grown in only 41 locations on the New South Wales coast.”
Brad, 41, a third-generation oyster farmer, is based at Forster on the NSW Mid North Coast. It’s where his grandfather, Maurice Verdich, returned to farming oysters in 1970 after a stint farming out west at Dunedoo. Brad’s father, Stephen, and his uncle, Clifford, joined the business,
