Tips To Buying Seafood

Seafood is a healthy and tasty addition to your dinner menu. And its certainly one you should consider! Many times people get turned off of seafood because they don’t know how to correctly purchase it and then aren’t pleased with the outcome. These tips to buying seafood will have you coming back for more.

Each type of seafood has special characteristics that you need to be aware of. There are things you need to watch for when buying the different types of seafood. It doesn’t matter if you are buying frozen or fresh the tips are the same, although whenever you have the opportunity to buy fresh it’s always best.

When you are buying fresh fish you need to look the fish over carefully. Watch for a dullness, missing scales or scales that seem glued to the fish body. A fresh fish should be shiny and bright like a new penny. The scales should be slightly raised, and the gills should not have any brownish green discoloration or slime. You should also look at the eyes. They should not be sunken or cloudy. They should be clear and bright as if the fish were alive. Fish also should not smell like fish if its fresh.

Each type of fish has their color and markings. The less fresh the fish the less pronounced these colors and markings will be so you can tell how fresh the fish is by watching the color. Another tip to freshness is the color on the gills. Fresh fish will have bright pink or red gills, as they age they will fade and turn to a greenish brown color. Fresh fish has no odor but again as it ages it begins to smell fishy, so if it has a smell it isn’t fresh.

The same tips apply if you are buying fish filets. They should show no signs of drying around the edges or turning brown and they should have only a very mild smell, no strong fish smell. The meat should look firm and moist and fresh.

Seafood is best fresh but you can purchase it frozen. When buying frozen seafood make sure it is frozen solid and that it has not been unthawed and refrozen. Watch for discoloration that would indicate freezer burn or ice crystals that have formed in the bag. If you see any of these signs do not buy it.

If at all possible you should also find out how it was frozen. Flash freezing is the best method because the seafood stays much fresher. Flash frozen seafood can be even better than fresh if the seafood isn’t native to your area. That’s because if it has to be trucked to your area it won’t be very fresh when it arrives.

Fresh seafood should have good coloring, no discolored edges, and it should look fresh. It should be healthy looking.

The best place to buy fresh seafood and fish is at your local fish market if you live in an area where there is one. You can also sometimes buy fresh catches right off the pier.

Fish and seafood are both excellent sources of Vitamin D, B12, omega 3 fatty acids, and magnesium. People who eat plenty of fish are less likely to gain weight Studies have also shown that if you eat plenty of fish and seafood you are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, and type II diabetes.

In areas like the Mediterranean where diets are high in fish and seafood there are also reduced levels of heart disease and cancer.

Seafood is very easy to prepare and there are many excellent recipes on the web. With these tips to buying seafood you’ll soon be enjoying the delicious taste and aroma of seafood and the health benefits too!


Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.