Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye salmon is an anadromous fish that lives in the ocean but eventually enters fresh water to spawn. Certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, sockeye salmon are the second most abundant species of Alaskan Salmon.
Sockeye salmon is known for it’s fresh flavor, silky texture and brilliant red color, which is why it is commonly referred to as Red Salmon.
Sockeye salmon spend one to four years in in fresh water and one to three years in the ocean. On average, these salmon grow to 24 inches, sometimes as long as 31 inches and can weigh anywhere from 4 to 15 pounds.
Sockeye salmon are short-lived and they eat very low on the food chain. Most sockeye salmon live only 3 to 5 years in the waters of the Northern Pacific Ocean, and feed on krill, plankton and tiny fish. This makes sockeye salmon among the lowest bioaccumulating fish in the sea. Bioaccumulation is the process of retaining environmental contaminants in the body. Few if any other fish of a salmon’s size can make this claim.
Sockeye salmon is some of the healthiest protein you can eat. The Food and Drug Administration recommends that pregnant women eat sockeye salmon, which is one of the only fish species recommended. Balanced with nutrients, sockeye salmon are best described as being clean, fresh, pure, packed with Vitamin D3, antioxidants, EPAs, DHPs, NTG Omega 3s and low in Mercury. The krill and plankton that the salmon eat produces the antioxidant astaxanthin which is a heart-healthy compound that supports whole health.
A fillet of sockeye salmon is the full-side or length of the fish, minus the head and the tail. A sockeye salmon fillet that has been processed (headed, gutted, trimmed & the pin-bones removed) typically yields a weight varying from 1 to 2.5+ lbs.
Because sockeye salmon is seasonal, it is limited as to when it is available on a retail level. It is usually available from mid-July through October, although we are able to sell it throughout each year.
When you buy our sockeye salmon, you’ll know the difference in what you may have bought or seen at the store, from it’s bright red appearance and the firm looking texture of the fillet itself. Store bought salmon has increasingly becoming known for it’s false claims and being mislabeled. Although it might look similar and say that it is “Wild-Caught” it could very well be farmed salmon. Also too, when a consumer purchase salmon at the grocery store, they often assume that it’s fresh since it’s not frozen at the time of purchase. This is rarely the case since most seafood is thawed before selling. Part of the problem is that many people including the seafood clerk don’t know exactly what the word “fresh” means, so they will mark something “fresh” thinking it means not-frozen, rather than what it actually mans, which is “never” frozen.
Purchasing salmon or ant other seafood that is not sourced, anonymous and generally poor quality seafood from the grocery store or from a farmer’s market vendor that distributes a variety of random types of seafood is rarely a good or healthy choice.
