Farmed salmon is a viable alternative to wild caught salmon
- Thread starter Tonington
- Start date
Atlantic lobster- spring catch- before they molt. Ah just a taste of heaven. Or Digby scallops.
Salt cod.
Yep, another example of popular beliefs that have run rampant. Same thing with naturally grown vegetables vs. organic.
I prefer Dungeness crab over lobster any day.
What I like about the east coast is the scenery and the people.
They have Farmed Tasmanian Salmon here.... I'm pretty sure they're Atlantic Salmon farmed in Tasmania.... Kind of odd, but it does help with the shipping and such. Cost is about the same or a bit more than back in NS.
Do I notice a difference?
Yes but it's minor and the closest thing I'll ever get to what I used to eat growing up.
Is farmed fish better than wild?
I suppose it's sustainable in the long run, but so is regulated fishing. What about the employment opportunities for farm fishing vs normal fishing?
Sure a fisherman could get a job at a fish farm, but where's the adventure of the open sea and finding the fish to bring back vs sitting in a fenced off pond of water with a scoop? Might as well work in a staple factory counting the strips of staples to ensure they all have the same amount as the next.... Fun fun.
Let's back track to the question of whether or not farmed fish is just as good with taste, or better than wild.....
I have had wild duck that my grandfather hunted, and duck packaged in a grocery store from some farm. The farmed stuff had little flavour compared to the wild duck I ate before and was no more than an over priced chicken. It tasted almost exactly like chicken with a very low hint of duck.
Chicken, Cattle and Pigs all are farmed and we're accustomed to their flavours but nothing beats that gamey taste you get from the wild. Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, Moose, etc. All taste friggin amazing. Here in Australia I've had Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile which were nice... But they were also farmed and I imagine if they were wild, they would have been even better.
There's something always lost when it's farmed.
Eventually when the demand gets higher, the farmers try and maximize their resources ala hormones and caging to conserve space and food resources that feed those animals.
There's something that always put me off with commercial farming. It's the conditioning that is done to the animals that loses what you get from hunting an animal or fishing something straight from the wild.
The other thing is how farmed animals don't really have a life of their own outside of being fed, roaming around a small area or locked in a cage or in a little fish pound. They're just waiting to be slaughtered. With hunting and fishing, those creatures have a chance of survival and escape from human hands.... They've lived their natural lives for a period of time.... And somehow it reflects in the flavour of them when you eat them.
And for that, I will always be able to distinguish between farmed and not.
Do I notice a difference?
Yes but it's minor and the closest thing I'll ever get to what I used to eat growing up.
Is farmed fish better than wild?
I suppose it's sustainable in the long run, but so is regulated fishing. What about the employment opportunities for farm fishing vs normal fishing?
Sure a fisherman could get a job at a fish farm, but where's the adventure of the open sea and finding the fish to bring back vs sitting in a fenced off pond of water with a scoop? Might as well work in a staple factory counting the strips of staples to ensure they all have the same amount as the next.... Fun fun.
Let's back track to the question of whether or not farmed fish is just as good with taste, or better than wild.....
I have had wild duck that my grandfather hunted, and duck packaged in a grocery store from some farm. The farmed stuff had little flavour compared to the wild duck I ate before and was no more than an over priced chicken. It tasted almost exactly like chicken with a very low hint of duck.
Chicken, Cattle and Pigs all are farmed and we're accustomed to their flavours but nothing beats that gamey taste you get from the wild. Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, Moose, etc. All taste friggin amazing. Here in Australia I've had Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile which were nice... But they were also farmed and I imagine if they were wild, they would have been even better.
There's something always lost when it's farmed.
Eventually when the demand gets higher, the farmers try and maximize their resources ala hormones and caging to conserve space and food resources that feed those animals.
There's something that always put me off with commercial farming. It's the conditioning that is done to the animals that loses what you get from hunting an animal or fishing something straight from the wild.
The other thing is how farmed animals don't really have a life of their own outside of being fed, roaming around a small area or locked in a cage or in a little fish pound. They're just waiting to be slaughtered. With hunting and fishing, those creatures have a chance of survival and escape from human hands.... They've lived their natural lives for a period of time.... And somehow it reflects in the flavour of them when you eat them.
And for that, I will always be able to distinguish between farmed and not.
I haven't had farmed salmon for three or four years. The salmon I did have just did not have the taste and consistancy of wild salmon. The colour was right, in that it looked like salmon but the flesh was mealy and not as firm as wild fish. Have the farmed fish improved
a lot in the last few years?
a lot in the last few years?
I'm suyrprised. I'd have thought you'd be able to telll the difference between sockeye and Atlantic salmon
You mean fixed it for you. I'm fine with reality. You should join us!
That's kind of the point of a blind taste test. The selection is based on the taste...
What about texture? I found that farmed fish were spongy, rubbery and fell apart when cooked.
Any improvements in that dept?
Any improvements in that dept?
The tasters could in some instances detect the difference, but couldn't consistently tell the difference. There are a combination of factors, in some cases due to differences in cold chain supply management. This is actually one of the areas where salmon farming research has improved the wild product. Also, there have been improvements in the fitness of the fish. The industry has determined optimal water velocities in the hatchery that make leaner stronger smolts. That has an impact on flesh qualities.
farmed creatures versus free range, have always been different. Even farmed elk versus wild.
But, in the long run, I really don't think humans, given our vast numbers, should be relying on any meat we can't farm. Eating wild should be something we view as occasional from a society perspective.
But, in the long run, I really don't think humans, given our vast numbers, should be relying on any meat we can't farm. Eating wild should be something we view as occasional from a society perspective.
You mean fixed it for you. I'm fine with reality. You should join us!
That's kind of the point of a blind taste test. The selection is based on the taste...
O I C. So for teh most part the tasters knew they were picking the Atlantic salmon, but they happened to like that one best. Which salmon does Atlantic salmon taste like the most--sockeye, cocho, chinook or pink?
In some cases they could tell the difference, but it wasn't reliable. They didn't know they were picking Atlantic salmon, as the panelists were surprised by the results. You shouldn't really be surprised if you have a good idea of what it is you are picking. I have no idea which Pacific salmon it would taste most like. I've only had wild Pacific salmon a handful of times.
