Salmon: Wild Caught vs. Farm Raised. Which is best?
- Thread starter Baron
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As a bit of a salmon snob who used to eat quite a bit that I knew was fresh because I'd just caught it....
First it's important to understand that there are a number of different species of salmon that are all radically different from one another. A fillet of Atlantic Salmon contains 27g of fat, while a fillet of pink salmon contains 7g. In between are sockeye/reds with 10g, kings/chinooks with 21, and silvers/coho which also contain 27. These fish are also significantly different in size (8-12 lb for Atlantic, vice 40-50 lbs for kings), diet, time spent in the ocean before spawning... In other words they are all only salmon by name only, otherwise they're vastly different.
Second, it's important to note that virtually all farmed salmon is Atlantic salmon and there is virtually no commercial fishery for wild Atlantic Salmon. Typically the generic "wild caught salmon" you get at a restaurant or supermarket is pink salmon. So, when you say you prefer farmed to wild caught salmon, what you're probably really saying is that you prefer atlantic to pink salmon, the fact that one was farmed and one wasn't is really incidental. The difference in fat content, as noted, is huge, but it's just because of an interspecies difference, not because those farmed salmon are "corn fed". If you prefer atlantic/farmed salmon, try some silver or king salmon and I think you'll find it more to your liking (and sadly significantly more expensive!)
Finally, my personal opinion is that salmon is one of the most sensitive fish to freshness and storage. You can freeze and thaw a tuna steak after storing it in the freezer for 6 months and it will still be OK. A salmon steak will be so fishy as to be inedible. With this in mind, it's much more likely a farmed salmon came to you fresh with a minimum of intermediate stops and mishandling, vice the wild caught salmon that had to go from a fishing boat in the Gulf of Alaska, ride around a couple days, to a processing boat, to a cold storage, transported by truck to wherever you live, sits in the distributors freezer for a while, the restaurant/store's freezer for a while....plus the fishery is only during parts of the year so by definition you're getting 6 month old salmon with wild-caught at some times of the year. I pretty much won't order salmon at a restaurant unless they explain in detail how many days off the boat it is and don't serve it out of season, for exactly this reason. Like I said, salmon snob.
First it's important to understand that there are a number of different species of salmon that are all radically different from one another. A fillet of Atlantic Salmon contains 27g of fat, while a fillet of pink salmon contains 7g. In between are sockeye/reds with 10g, kings/chinooks with 21, and silvers/coho which also contain 27. These fish are also significantly different in size (8-12 lb for Atlantic, vice 40-50 lbs for kings), diet, time spent in the ocean before spawning... In other words they are all only salmon by name only, otherwise they're vastly different.
Second, it's important to note that virtually all farmed salmon is Atlantic salmon and there is virtually no commercial fishery for wild Atlantic Salmon. Typically the generic "wild caught salmon" you get at a restaurant or supermarket is pink salmon. So, when you say you prefer farmed to wild caught salmon, what you're probably really saying is that you prefer atlantic to pink salmon, the fact that one was farmed and one wasn't is really incidental. The difference in fat content, as noted, is huge, but it's just because of an interspecies difference, not because those farmed salmon are "corn fed". If you prefer atlantic/farmed salmon, try some silver or king salmon and I think you'll find it more to your liking (and sadly significantly more expensive!)
Finally, my personal opinion is that salmon is one of the most sensitive fish to freshness and storage. You can freeze and thaw a tuna steak after storing it in the freezer for 6 months and it will still be OK. A salmon steak will be so fishy as to be inedible. With this in mind, it's much more likely a farmed salmon came to you fresh with a minimum of intermediate stops and mishandling, vice the wild caught salmon that had to go from a fishing boat in the Gulf of Alaska, ride around a couple days, to a processing boat, to a cold storage, transported by truck to wherever you live, sits in the distributors freezer for a while, the restaurant/store's freezer for a while....plus the fishery is only during parts of the year so by definition you're getting 6 month old salmon with wild-caught at some times of the year. I pretty much won't order salmon at a restaurant unless they explain in detail how many days off the boat it is and don't serve it out of season, for exactly this reason. Like I said, salmon snob.
That's good to know. My wife said the salmon she buys at our seafood shop comes from Norway. I eat salmon at least 7 or 8 days out of the month.
Here is a site doing various comparisons, including omega 3 and 6 differences. The omega ratios are different in most farmed species vs wild...unless the farmed fish receives the same type of diet as the wild fish of a given species.
https://authoritynutrition.com/wild-vs-farmed-salmon/
https://authoritynutrition.com/wild-vs-farmed-salmon/
Well again, any article that generically refers to "salmon" isn't making an apples to apples comparison given the 4 wildly different special of wild salmon and an entirely different species that makes up farmed salmon. This article is pretty pointless when it doesn't name which species of wild salmon it's comparing.
Good point. What are your thoughts regarding Alaskan salmon types and possible radiation from Japan? I was just looking through a few sites, and there are a lot of differing opinions about that subject. I'm thinking about paying a few extra bucks and trying some wild Alaskan. I think my local seafood shop sells it (not sure, though). Also, what is your favorite salmon?
I haven't researched enough to make an opinion on radiation. I can tell you that Pink salmon spend only 2 years at sea while Kings can spend up to 8. Since all fish are bio accumulators, you'd obviously be better off going with the Pinks since by this time there aren't any alive now who were alive when the incident happened and they have less time to accumulate. My gut feel based on my CBRNE training is that the radiation is so diluted that you face more natural radiation when flying across the Pacific than you'd face from eating any salmon out of it, but again that's an opinion from a non-expert so it's not worth much.
My favorite wild salmon depends on how it's prepared. For soft smoked salmon the oily Kings and Silvers just can't be beat, for jerky the Reds seem to be best. For a grilled steak it's all about fat content, the Kings and Silvers are going to be high fat and naturally taste better especially for something like grilling. On the other hand, you can eat Pinks all day for super healthy protein with no fat, so I generally eat canned pink for lunch a couple days a week, either on a sandwich or right out of the can. If you're going to splurge to see how good wild salmon can be I'd say to try to find some King/Chinook or Silver/Coho (the names vary based on how fancy the seller wants them to sound) and grill it, making sure not to overcook. And if you can ever make it to Alaska to get some fresh...well maybe not a good idea because you'll never want the lower-48 store kind again.
There was testing done by the FDA in 2014 and 2015 and there were no radioactive isotope's from Fukushima. But scientists estimated that radiation levels would reach the west coast by the end of 2016. The water was tested at the end of 2016 in Oregon, and there was conclusive evidence that Fukushima isotopes were present at the Beaches. The Salmon in Canada tested positive, the Fukushima isotopes were present. There were also articles saying that clams and muscles in certain areas have contracted a virus type of leukemia cancer that was turning the insides of the clams and muscles to sludge. Lets give a special thanks to GE, they own the Fukushima plant.