Announce at home that everyone can expect salmon for dinner, and you’re never likely to hear anyone groan. Everyone loves salmon recipes.
And what is not to love? Salmon happens to be delicious, full of wholesome fats, proteins and nutrition.
Go to the seafood and deli section of your supermarket though, and the variety can be so overwhelming, it is almost as if they expect you to major in marine life before you make the choice.
Would you like Alaskan, Chilean or Atlantic?
Would you like your salmon caught from the wild or farmed in an aquarium?
Is farmed salmon always lower in the level of mercury it has?
Here’s a little tip sheet on how to size up your next salmon purchase.
US Atlantic salmon has been on the endangered list for a very long time, having been fished into near extinction.
You can only buy US Atlantic salmon of the farmed variety these days. But salmon recipes made of farmed US Atlantic salmon happen to be just as nutritionally good for you as the wild variety, with a great deal of omega-3 and low levels of mercury.
If US Atlantic salmon is that great, how about imported Atlantic salmon? Imported Atlantic salmon happens to the completely farmed.
Whether or not it’s good for you, well, depends on where it comes from. Chilean salmon farms happen to be terribly polluted. They drug their fish heavily with antibiotics.
Canadian and Norwegian farms happen to be far better. In America, every store is required by law to label where exactly the fish you buy comes from. You could use that to pick the right kind.
Wild salmon is one of the best varieties you could put into your salmon recipes. The surprising thing about this kind is that it comes with such a list of alternative names.
They get called Alaskan salmon, sockeye, sake, keta king, and a variety of other names. They basically catch these in the Pacific near the coast of Alaska or near Washington. You could buy Alaskan wild salmon to help the environment.
And the salmon populations around Alaska are still pretty plentiful. Wild Alaskan salmon happens to have a characteristic taste – there is less fat, it’s firmer and it has a game taste that many people enjoy in their salmon recipes.
And finally, Coho salmon happens to be one of the best kinds to buy. It’s hard to tell Coho from any other kind because usually, they just label it Wild. Coho is a small variety of salmon.
Doctors usually advise you that you shouldn’t go for more than one meal of salmon a month, so polluted with chemicals like PCBs are they.
With Coho though, you’re allowed as much salmon as you want. These fish happen to eat very little, and they have their little chemical pollution in their systems.