New Worlds Under Yer Nose

[Adam]

I went to the grocery store today with some new objectives and was amazed at how much stuff is there that I never noticed.

I spent 2 hours there and I didn't even buy anything.

I just wanted to see what was there from a new perspective.

BOY have I got a lot of questions.....

But one I want to get out of the way for sure.

Wally world has frozen whole salmon about 5 pounds no head
in the rough for $6 bucks. I thought that to be the answer to
omega 3 and economical fish. I bought one because it just seemed
like a real good idea.

What is the scoop on fresh fish and such?

[RebeccaT]

Adam, I am really enjoying hearing about your adventures as you enter this new world of healthy cooking and eating! :)

I must admit that I am not an expert in the details of fish's health benefits. But I did find this article that may be of interest to you. As with most foods, the preparation is as important as the food itself... salmon is wonderful, but if it is slathered in a rich, cream-and-butter based sauce, it won't be as healthy as it would be if it were grilled or broiled.

Here is a link to a thread with a bunch of salmon recipes:
http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35568&highlight=salmon+recipes

And here is that article:

Fish Fights Other Diseases

Heart Disease
Studies have shown that regular fish intake -- about once a week -- can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. In a 1998 study, researchers found that men who ate fish at least once a week reduced their risk of sudden cardiac death by 52 percent, compared to men who ate fish less than once a month. The American Heart Association recommends at least two servings of fish per week.

Blood Pressure
Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Lawrence J. Appel found that omega-3 fatty acids, the kind found in salmon and mackerel, can help lower blood pressure in people with untreated high blood pressure. There have also been numerous studies confirming the benefits of dietary fish intake combined with weight loss to lower blood pressure.

Arthritis
A study by Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that fish oil may help reduce the pain and inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis. Especially helpful are cold-water fish like salmon, cod and even sardines. Shellfish weren't proven to be very effective.

Cancer
There is some evidence to indicate that fish intake may protect against breast cancer, and, based on animal models, fish oil seems to have inhibitory effects against several other types as well -- including cancer of the colon, skin, pancreas, prostate, lung and larynx.

Weight loss
Several studies have found the correlation between regular fish intake, in addition to a healthy diet, and weight loss. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as tuna or salmon, can help in weight loss, lower cholesterol and improve overall health, according to researchers and dieticians.

Depression
Though several studies have confirmed the link between fish intake and depression risk, it is unclear exactly what causes the lowered depression risk. Some experts think that fish oil blocks the abnormal signaling in the brain that is present in mania and depression.

Vision
Studies show that a moderate intake of fish -- one to three servings a month -- may protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the United States. AMD usually affects people over age 60 and affects central vision -- so although victims of the disease don't usually go blind, the condition complicates daily activities such as reading and driving.

[funnybone]

Adam, have you visted the CL Great Food board? I noticed you have been posting under Healthy Living. You may get some great food/recipe ideas under the other board. Also more people check that board out. Just a thought.

[DocAgocs]

Adam, something I tell patients who are in your position is to "shop the edges." If you think about it, the edges of the store are where you find the real food (i.e. fruits, vegetables, meats) and the inner part of the store is a bunch of garbage no human ever needs to eat.

Here's a word about most salmon at Wally World and most other places:

Look for the words "farm-raised." Farm raised fish is a lot cheaper than wild fish because it's literally like shooting fish in a barrel. The benefits of salmon do not transfer to farm-raised fish. The main benefit of salmon is the omega-3 fatty acids. Wild salmon and other fishy fish (sardines, mackerel, other oily suckers) are loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids. Unfortunately the same benefits aren't found in farm-raised fish. The reson is that farm-raised fish are fattened fast so they are worth more to the people raising them. To do this, they feed the fish grain. So, farm-raised = grain-fed. Grains are very high in Omega-6 fatty acids, which Americans eat about 10 times too much of. So, farm-raised salmon is very low in Omega-3 fatty acids and very high in omega-6 fatty acids. It's not real good for you at all. If you are going to eat salmon go for wild salmon that has been fished in a responsible way. It's expensive. Also, because farm-raised salmon don't get a whole lot of exercise, they don't get that nice red color we associate with salmon. So, to further fake you out the farm-raised salmon are dyed red at the processing plant. Yum! If you think I'm a crackpot just check the ingredients on the typical stuff. If it's farm raised it is low in omega-3's, high in omega-6's, dyed red and not worth eating.

FWIW the worst fish I've ever bought was from the "fresh" case at a Super Walmart. Awful stuff, but cheap. Look around at people when you're in public and think "low quality food at cheap prices in huge quantities" and you'll start to gain a new appreciation for why Americans are ranking 37th in the world in health. Pretty sickening what can be done to our food supply that you generally wouldn't know. You read article after article about "healthy salmon" but most neglect to mention the fact that the article is written about wild salmon, not farm-raised, which is what 90% of people end up buying.

[sneezles]

Originally posted by DocAgocs
Also, because farm-raised salmon don't get a whole lot of exercise, they don't get that nice red color we associate with salmon. So, to further fake you out the farm-raised salmon are dyed red at the processing plant.

Salmon Communiqué
By Greg Higgins
Higgins Restaurant and Bar
Portland, OR
October, 2000
With salmon consumption at an all-time high in North America, now seems an opportune time to look more closely at this valuable resource. It’s difficult for most chefs to find the time to research such a complex topic, so here is a condensed look at the pros and cons of both aquaculture and wild salmon choices. The good news is that there are sustainable salmon choices available to us. Look at the Chefs Collaborative Seafood Solutions (released this fall) for some specific sources of these products.

Not all salmon tastes the same. In a blind taste test hosted by Chefs Collaborative (in May, 2000, at the French Culinary Institute in New York City) five types of salmon were prepared identically and compared. Tested for flavor, texture and aroma, here’s how they ranked:
* 1st - Wild Alaskan Coho, frozen at sea
* 2nd - Wild Oregon Chinook, fresh
* 3rd - Oregon Hatchery Chinook, fresh
* 4th - California Hatchery Chinook, fresh
* 5th - Maine Farm Raised Atlantic, fresh

We found statistics on the nutritional content (protein and fat-ratios) of farm versus wild salmon striking. FDA tests show wild salmon to have 20% higher protein content and 20% lower fat content than aquaculture salmon. Obviously we have all heard about the beneficial fat content of salmon, but a product which contains 30-35% fat by weight is considered by most to be excessive.

Wild salmon in North America consist of six species: Atlantic, King (Chinook), Silver (Coho), Sockeye, Pinks and Chums. Atlantic salmon are severely threatened, existing in small numbers in the wild in Maine and The Maritime Provinces of Canada. There is no wild Atlantic salmon sold commercially. Wild salmon range from the Sacramento River drainage north throughout Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. While viable numbers still exist in their southern ranges, the healthiest populations and habitats exist in Alaska. In fact, due to the successful efforts of conserving and protecting wild salmon habitats, the Alaska Salmon Fishery recently received the Marine Stewardship Council’s label for sustainability. Fresh-caught, wild salmon is available nearly eight months of the year, with high quality "frozen at sea" (FAS) line-caught fish available during the interim.

The primary methods of salmon capture are: trolling a series of baited lines "trolled" behind a small boat; gill netting fixed nets which are positioned at the mouth of a river to ensnare returning runs of salmon; and seining a large purse shaped net which is reduced in size to trap the run of fish. Trolling or line-caught salmon exhibit the best overall handling, translating into the highest quality final product.

Wild populations come under pressure from numerous causes. Their habitat is altered by logging, road building, overgrazing of livestock, agricultural runoff, dams, and urban and industrial development. These populations also face competition for food, spawning grounds and migratory routes from both salmon hatchery fish and aquaculture salmon operations. Another major threat to wild fish is from sport and commercial fisheries and their management.

Aquaculture can be a potential solution to alleviating stress on wild salmon populations, but it is not without complications. Atlantic salmon (the most widely reared aquaculture salmon species) is reared in floating open net pens in bays and inlets. Salmon farms exist in British Columbia, The Maritime Provinces, Maine, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Chile, Japan and other countries where cold, clear seawater can be found. The fish are fed a diet of fishmeal pellets and raised to a marketable size over a 2-3 year period. In the past 15 years, salmon farming has increased to a level where 50% of the world’s salmon is now sourced from aquaculture open net pens (hatchery fish is about 30% and wild fish the remaining 20%). This flood of fish-farm salmon has caused the price of wild salmon to drop from $5/lb in the late 1970’s to just over $1/lb today to the fisherman. This price decrease has forced many small-fishing boats off the water.

Salmon farms are input intensive. First, it has become necessary to source the eggs from hatcheries outside of their regions. In North America most of the fertile eggs for aquaculture originate in Scandinavia or Scotland. Second, the fishmeal for their food is composed of small pelagic fish (anchovies, capelin, etc.) harvested in the nutrient rich currents off Peru and South America. Typically, four pounds of fish meal is needed to create one pound of farm raised fish-creating "net loss" of protein in the food system. Removal of immense amounts of prey fish from any eco-system can have significant ramifications; transfer of large amounts of biomass from one eco-system to another can invariably produce imbalance in both systems. Third, rearing fish in such high densities present problems. Infectious disease outbreaks pose financial threats to operators so vaccines and antibiotics are often used to prevent potential epidemics. Sulfa drugs and tetracycline are often xesadded to food pellet mix as well as astaxanthin (an orange dye) to impart a rich red-orange color to an otherwise grayish flesh color. These additives and inputs invariably find their way into our food stream by settling to the sea bottom under the open net pens. Finally, the excrement of these aquaculture fish accumulates below their pens. A good-sized salmon farm produces the equivalent amount of sewage of a city of 10,000 people.

Reported environmental impacts from salmon aquaculture farms are diverse. Marine wildlife mortality consists of seabirds ensnared in protective netting and sea lions shot for preying on penned fish. Penned salmon prey on migrating smolts (immature wild salmon) journeying to the sea. They also compete for food sources of krill and herring, which nourish wild fish before their final journey home to their spawning grounds. Documented escapes of farm fish (360,000 Atlantic’s in one escape in 1997 from a Puget Sound farm) create problems in the wild. Escaped fish compete for habitat, spawning grounds and food sources. Dilution of the wild salmon gene pool can occur through interbreeding of farm and wild stocks.

Salmon farms can also threaten wild populations through concentrating and spreading infectious disease. ISA - Infectious Salmon Anemia, as well as other diseases, have been spread to wild stocks through their proximity to fish farms and escaped Atlantic populations. Entire river systems in Norway, Nova Scotia and Scotland have been dosed with the toxic chemical Rotenone to control such outbreaks.

There are alternatives to open net pens. Prototype closed systems - a floating closed-bottom pen with an attached water treatment system - have been developed and tested. While more expensive to construct initially, these systems clearly cover the true cost of rearing salmon in an aquaculture format. In Oregon, at Young’s Bay and other sites on the lower Columbia River, another alternative to conventional net pen aquaculture has been developed. On a small river that lacks wild salmon, young fish (raised in a hatchery in another location) are acclimated to saltwater in net pens and released at the appropriate age to travel to the Pacific and grow to maturity in the wild. Three to four years later, they return to Young’s Bay as mature adult Chinook salmon for selective harvest and sale. This "salmon ranching" approach avoids most of the environmental drawbacks of salmon farming, supports commercial fishing jobs and produces high-quality fish that can be caught without risk to endangered wild runs.

When buying salmon, we suggest that you ask for line-caught Alaskan fish first, as the most sustainable option with closed-pen farm-raised salmon a viable second choice. Copper River fish is just one of many top-quality runs of wild salmon available. Work with your fish suppliers to access the best fish. Consider using F.A.S. (frozen at sea) line caught fish; it is an excellent alternative to farm-raised fish. Support the Audubon’s Living Oceans Campaign and visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website. Stay Informed!


Wild salmon species
Note while reading this that not all salmon is infact red fleshed.And Chinook (King Salmon can have as much or more fat than farmed salmon depending on when it's caught...salmon build up fat for the journey "home" to spawn. So the higher the fat content the earlier in the season it was caught. And wild salmon get their color from the krill they eat not from exercise.

Chinook. Also called spring or king salmon, the largest of British Columbia's salmon often running over 35 lbs (18 kg) is much sought after by sports fishermen. Prized by gourmets, its firm flesh can range from ivory white to deep red. Commercial harvests are small.



Chum. Sometimes known as "dog" salmon from the big teeth this species develops at spawning time, it is known as keta when canned. The flesh ranges from pale to medium red and is especially low in saturated fat. In the supermarket, chum offers especially good value for the money.

Cohoe Also popular with sports fishermen, cohoe is a favourite choice in season in supermarkets, fish stores and restaurants fr its good red colour, moderate price, and its versatility.

Sockeye is the mainstay of the commercial fishery, contributing about two-thirds of the total value of the salmon harvest. Its deep-red, firm flesh makes it the richiest and most sought-after of British Columbia's salmon and gives it the name of red salmon when canned.

Pink is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific species, often known as a "humpy" from the hump it develops on its back at spawning time. The flesh is light in colour and delicately flavoured. Three quarters of the harvest is canned; the rest is sold fresh or frozen in supermarkets, often at attractive prices.