Seafood products from thePacific Northwest providesuperior nutritional value andan opportunity to add variety tofamily menus. However, becausemost fresh seafood is seasonal, it’simportant to learn what the avail-ability of seafood is in your area atcertain times of the year. Your localfish dealer can provide you with thisinformation and indicate which va-rieties are the best value. Fresh fishmay be purchased by the pound inany of the following forms: dressed,steaks, fillets, and chunks.Keep in mind that seafoodproducts are more susceptible thanmost other food items to changesin color, flavor, and texture fromexposure to air through a processcalled oxidation. Commercial andcustom processors may use vacuumpackaging, antioxidants such asvitamin C (ascorbic acid), and othertechniques to control these changes.Seafood products can also spoilmore quickly because the bacteriaassociated with them can grow atlow temperatures. This means thatthey have a shorter shelf life thanred meat. Because aquatic foods areso sensitive to deterioration, freez-ing is an important way to maintainseafood quality.Your family can enjoy seafoodfrom the freezer that tastes almost asfresh and delicately flavored as theday it was caught, if you follow a fewrules during preparation and storage.If you catch your own fishFishers should be aware that theprocess of stiffening (rigor mortis) offreshly caught fish has a significant
influence on the quality of the fro-
zen product. The best quality frozen
fish is produced from fish that have
been handled and frozen immediate-
ly after the process of rigor is over and
the fish muscle is relaxed.
Fish should be bled as soon as
they are caught, and then iced im-
mediately. Under these conditions,
a fish will pass through rigor slowly,
and there is less of a chance for
gaping (separations in the meat) to
occur. Passing though rigor could
take up to a day for large fish. Make
sure that ice completely surrounds
the fish. (If the fish touches the
sides of the container, it will cool
too fast.) On a warm day, fish that
have not been iced suffer a harsh
rigor by going through the process
quickly. This causes the flesh to tear
and damages the muscle structure,
especially if the fish is stiff when
you handle it.
Fish flesh that was frozen before
going through rigor should have ex-
cellent flavor, but it may be slightly
tough if you thaw it before the
6–9 weeks it takes to pass through
rigor during frozen storage. If you
have little influence over how your
catch is handled or filleted, the best
advice is simply to keep fish as cool
as possible after catching it, ice the
fish immediately after butchering
or filleting, and freeze it as soon as
possible. Remember: if you’re ever
in doubt as to the freshness of sea-
food, then by all means, don’t freeze
it. If you have a serious doubt about
the quality or safety of the product,
discard it.
Freezing can never improve the
quality of a bad product. Handling
fish poorly before freezing will make
it impossible to obtain good results.
Freezing can only slow the loss of
quality of the fish—it can’t put any
quality back. In some cases, poor
handling can start chemical changes
that even freezing can’t stop, such
as oxidation of fats that lead to un-
desirable flavor and color changes.
Choosing the right package
You can prepare fish for freez-
ing in any of several ways: dressed
or pan-dressed, steaks, and fillets
(Figure 1). It’s usually best to freeze
fish in a tightly wrapped package
that will exclude air. An additional
advantage is that these types of
packages take up less storage space.
It is also a good idea to wrap fish in
meal size portions, so that only the
product that is needed is removed
from the freezer at one time.
Most undesirable seafood flavors
and color changes are caused by oxi-
dation of sensitive unsaturated fatty
acids and pigments. These “heart
healthy” unsaturated fatty acids are
one of the most important nutri-
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