Wild Alaskan Salmon

Those with a taste for wild salmon consider farm raised versions a gastronomic joke. This may be because it is. If you place a fillet pulled from brisk Alaskan waters next to a fat marbled farm raised version, it would be hard to visualize that the two are cut from the same biological cloth. In essence, they couldn't be more different.

Wild salmon swim free in cold ocean waters. Farm raised do not. A species meant for the wild is susceptible to various complications when taken out of its natural habitat. Farm raising salmon produces a fattier fish, one higher in the inflammatory omega-6 and lower in the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids than wild versions. Salmon farms are also responsible for breeding parasitic salmon lice which now threaten wild species. This requires farms to use antibiotics and chemicals to treat parasites which inevitably end up stored in the fish's fat. Oh, and there is the artificial pigment added to fish feed to turn farmed salmon pink. Without it, your farm raised fillet would be an appetizing shade of grey. I could go on and on. All of this unpleasantness on salmon aquaculture really is just a tiny glimpse of its un-sustainability.

As for the good news: Alaska is home to some of the healthiest wild salmon populations due to stringent conservation efforts. Even more good news: because of some burly, hard working bad-asses (please excuse my language, there is no substitute on this one), some of the freshest wild Alaskan salmon is available to me, here in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

For a true salmon lover, this is pretty much as good as it gets. I didn't even come close to wetting a line, yet I have 1o pounds of bright pink, firm, highly flavorful fillets nestled in my chest freezer. And I got a discount for buying in bulk. This is money well spent. My dollars go straight to those who deserve it most (no greedy middle-man) and I gain a product far superior to any other version; nutritionally, environmentally, and gastronomically.

Last night, fillets were simply seared and served over freshly harvested mesculn topped with avocado, sesame oil and tamari. Honestly, meals like this do not get much better. I could taste the vigor unique only to wild flesh swaddled in the sweetness only the ocean can deliver. A sincere thanks to Captian Heidi and the crew for their hard work and integrity. Visit The Wild Salmon Company to read more and make an order before it's all gone.