Wild Chum Salmon Outselling Atlantic Farmed Salmon in Britain

This article has its own spin on it for sure.  I posted quite a bit of the article because I found it interesting.  It seems that any “wild” variety of salmon would taste better than farmed salmon.  Gotta read this one…  Here’s a shot of a bright Chum, to show the beauty of the fish.

Between January and September this year, the country exported 405 tonnes to the UK compared with only 22 tonnes in 2007.

One reason retailers are importing chum is because it is about 20-30 per cent cheaper than Atlantic farmed salmon.

Wild chum salmon has a lower fat content than other species of salmon including farmed Atlantic salmon, resulting, according to the Tesco packaging, in a “slightly drier texture and subtle flavour”.

The fact it contains less oil means it is generally regarded to be less flavoursome than other species such as Atlantic, sockeye and pink.

Despite being plentiful in Alaska, commercial fishers often choose not to fish for them because of their low market value, associated with their milder flavour.

The name “chum” comes from the Chinook word “tzum”, meaning “spotted” or “marked”, spoken by the 19th century traders of the northwest Pacific.

A spokesman for Tesco said the frozen Christmas chum salmon was “only one” among many lines of salmon being sold. “We are looking to offer good quality and great value for customers,” he said.

Joe Jacobson, from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, said chum salmon was no longer commonly fed to huskies.

“Chum has had a bad reputation, probably because in Alaska we have king and sockeye salmon, which people tend to go for first. But that doesn’t mean chum is bad.”

via British supermarkets push Chinese ‘dog salmon’ as Christmas dish – Telegraph.

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