This is something that is always discussed the difference between wild and farmed salmon. Which one is better and which one should I buy. Well that really depends on what you prefer in terms of taste, quality and price. While both farmed and wild caught salmon are both good, i’m going to dive a little further into the differences between the two.
Farmed Salmon
“Salmon aquaculture (farming) is the industrial production of salmon from egg to market in a net-cage, pond or contained system. Most of the industry still uses open net-cages in the ocean, and these floating feedlots hold up to a million fish in an area the size of two football fields.”
citation: http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/salmon-farming-problems/what-is-salmon-farming/
Wild Salmon
This is simply just the practice of fishing for salmon in its natural habitat in waters that salmon normally swim.
There are are a number of differences between farmed and wild salmon, but perhaps the most significant and noticeable right away is the color. Wild salmon is much redder and richer looking in color leading to the expectation and reality of a superior product. If we eat with our eyes then the color alone makes the wild salmon a much better product.
Nutritional Differences
Nutritional tests have shown that farmed salmon is much higher in calories and fat than their wild counterparts. While farmed salmon maybe higher in Omega 3 fats, it’s also significantly higher in saturated fats which is not the type of fat you want. This makes perfect sense given the salmon are not feeding in their natural habitat and thus are consuming differently than what would normally be consumed.
Pollutants
This can depend on a lot of variables, like where the salmon is being farmed and what the climate is like. PCB content is something that is very prominent in farmed salmon and are on average 8 times higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon. PCB’s have been linked to cancer and other various health problems. The big takeaway here is that farmed salmons swim in waters and breed in areas where pollutants are higher than salmon spawning in the wild.
Taste
This is something that everyone has to experience on their own. Culinary experts will swear that wild salmon tastes much better than farmed salmon but the only way to test this out is try them both out for yourself. Personally I agree with the experts wild salmon possesses a richer flavor and texture that is noticeable right away.
Lets just summarize here, wild salmon is lower in saturated fats, pollutants and best of all tastes, feels and looks better. Jet Set Sam sells only wild salmon lox and salmon products caught off the coast of British Columbia Canada for those reasons mentioned above. I am sure once you taste the difference you’ll see the wild salmon is a far superior product to its farmed friend.
Jet Set Sam Blogging Staff
www.canada.jetsetsam.com
