Salmon: Wild Caught vs. Farm Raised. Which is best?

Baron

Baron

ET Founder
I hate to say this but my wife and I have tried to compare wild caught salmon versus the farm raised version at least 3 or 4 times within the past couple of years, and every time we get the exact same result: The farm raised wins every time... hands down. Both varieties were purchased from the fish counter at Whole Foods.

We both want to be able to say, "Yeah, the natural salmon blows the farm raised away.", but it never happens!

For whatever reason, the wild caught salmon is drier, has less flavor, and is thinner than the farm raised version. If we were buying from some unknown merchant, that would be one thing, but Whole Foods is pretty much known for having the highest standards for getting the best possible fish, no matter if it's wild caught or farm raised. CNBC even had a positive documentary about Whole Foods concerning this very topic.

I should be specific about what we were comparing, which was the Wild Caught Atlantic Salmon vs. the Farm Raised Salmon. There's a wild caught version called "King Salmon", which is the most expensive of them all but we haven't tried that yet.

Has anybody else ever compared the two and came to the same (or different) conclusion?
 
Last edited:
I just found this YouTube video about one of the farms that Whole Foods sources from. I'm pretty impressed.


I don't feel so bad about liking the farm raised now. ;)
 
Baron said:
We both want to be able to say, "Yeah, the natural salmon blows the farm raised away.", but it never happens!

For whatever reason, the wild caught salmon is drier, has less flavor, and is thinner than the farm raised version.

Has anybody else ever compared the two and came to the same (or different) conclusion?
More...

In the past, the term 'natural' means generally better...but nature is getting slightly tarnished now, or not as perfect or ideal.

Just like premium or prized Kobe steak...human intervention makes things better, o_O :) than nature alone,
 
Last edited:
Wild Salmon, especially Atlantic Salmon; have seen their numbers greatly reduced in the last decade.

It's better to buy farm raised salmon to give the wild ones a chance to recover.

I think the reason you prefer farm raised over wild salmon is because farm raised salmon has more fat than the wild ones. I am under the impression it's because they don't get as much 'exercise' as the wild ones. I guess it doesn't take as much energy to swim around in circles all day long than it does to cross the Atlantic when the seasons change trying to out swim sharks, seals, hurricanes and commercial fishing nets.

You can look at the fish in the grocery stores and if it has white fat lines between the pieces of salmon, it's farm raised. I guess all fish have those lines, but it's more prominent with farm raised fish. And just like a steak, the fat provides a bit of moisture and flavor.
 
i would think farm raised anything will always taste better. On the farm animals are feed well and taken care of. In the wild animals are trying to survive
 
2rosy said:
i would think farm raised anything will always taste better. On the farm animals are feed well and taken care of. In the wild animals are trying to survive
More...

You have to take everything in consideration. For example: In Norway they are raised in fjords. Because of these farms there is no natural (or not enough) circulation of fresh water which implies that there is more dirt and diseases. In the 90's massive amounts of antibiotics were sprayed over the water to fight these problems. Not healthy at all.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top