The truth about frozen fish and seafood products
Everybody wants fresh fish and there is a common belief that it’s superior to frozen fish, but that’s not always true. Read on to find out why…
The lowdown on blast freezing
Modern freezing techniques make many of the fish in the freezer section superior to fresh products. Often a “fresh” product might have been sitting on ice for one day too many. You have to put your trust in the fish store to carefully monitor the shelf life of all fresh products to ensure you are buying quality fish that won’t come back to haunt you.
In this day and age, many seafood products are being frozen directly on the boat just minutes after being caught, in blast-freezing units that maintain a temperature far below the typical home freezer. Cape Fish has its own onsite blast freezer that can rapidly pull down the temperature of seafood products, locking in freshness to ensure we are delivering top quality products to our customers.
What to look out for
There is clearly a case for buying frozen fish, but not all frozen fish are created using the same method. To find the best blast-frozen fish you need to look for one of two things:
- A vacuum-sealed product – these are always your best bet.
- Or seafood products in freezer safe pouches with high quality seals. Often glazing is used to help protect the fish from freezer burn and colour loss, this should not scare you off.
Whether you are buying fresh or frozen fish there are tell-tale signs if the fish has been stored correctly or not. If you’re after fillets, the flesh should be uniform in colour and not faded, which signifies the fish is aged. If the fish shops smells, turn around and head out the door – you don’t want to buy fish from shops with poor hygiene.
Benefits you don’t want to miss out on
Since fish is frozen at its peak of freshness, all its flavour and nutrition, as well as its texture, is locked in. If the fish is frozen properly, it doesn’t matter if they are fatty or lean, or thick steaks or thin fillets.
When it comes to convenience, nothing beats frozen fish. Imagine it’s the end of a long day, you haven’t planned dinner, and you want to whip together some fish tacos. Those well-packaged frozen fish fillets are your answer! They can be thawed easily in some hot water, and ready to go in no time at all.
Freezing also extends the season of the fish, making a fish that is caught in the summer a delicious treat in the middle of winter. Yellowtail is a prime example of a summer fish that can be vacuum packed and blast frozen to be enjoyed in winter.
Come in store and stock up on your frozen fish stash, we guarantee it will taste just as good.