Salmon is one of the most popular import ingredients in Thailand. With a flavor that matches the Thai palette, every restaurant needs to have salmon listed as a main ingredient. Therefore, restaurant owners should not overlook the importance of knowing how to select high-quality salmon. The better the ingredient, the more effectively menu items will be created, thereby adding value to your restaurant’s dishes.

Today we are going to learn about this excellent ingredient known as salmon.

The following three factors determine the quality of salmon:

In reality, salmon consists of nearly ten different species spread throughout the world. However, only three different species are popularly imported into Thailand as follows:

This species is often found in the Atlantic, particularly in Norway, which is the world’s top producer of salmon. For the most part, this species is made fresh into sushi or sashimi because its texture is firm while offering few bones and just the right amount of fat.

This member of the salmon family inhabits and originates from Asian and North American rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean, and some live in the Atlantic Ocean. The color of this fish is a brighter orange than other species and the flesh is quite fatty.

This species grows in the north parts of the Pacific Ocean in Japan and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Designated as the “silver salmon” due to its silver skin, the fish is also grown in Chile and often sold fresh and frozen.

One of the special qualities of salmon is that the fat that we see in the fish appears as alternating white streaks on the bright orange of the fish, making the fish taste soft and juicy and not tough like other kinds of fish. The amount of fat in salmon meat depends on both the species and where the fish lives. Salmon living in nature are usually leaner and firmer than farm-grown salmon such as salmon imported from places connected to the Atlantic Ocean; the fish is largely raised in natural farms there, so the salmon is quite fatty due to swimming less than being 100% in nature. Salmon fat contains a high quantity of healthy Omega-3 fats. However, how delicious the salmon is will depend on the preferences of each person. If someone prefers fatty fish, he or she should choose salmon with a lot of white streaks in the flesh. On the other hand, if someone likes firm fish meat, then try to look for fish with a completely orange appearance and hardly any interspersing white.

We’ve grown accustomed to eating orange salmon. However, the color of salmon can range from bright red to nearly white. These hues depend on both the species of salmon and its age. In addition, salmon flesh is orange because it contains antioxidants such as astaxanthin, which can be found in the natural food of salmon, which consists of shrimp and other aquatic crustaceans.

And with consumers mainly preferring to eat salmon meat that appears orange, a standard scale known as the Salmo Fan has been developed to measure salmon color. The fish’s color depends on its species, age and condition. However, freshly-sliced and frozen salmon such as salmon from the Atlantic should have a score of 23-27, depending on the fish’s size. If the fish is large, its color should also be darker.

In reality, Norway is the top producer of salmon, and the country gives importance to the seafood safety and strictly enforces salmon-raising regulations. Accordingly, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) performs quality inspection and enacts strict quality standards covering every process of production, and salmon is therefore grown in offshore aquariums with clear, clean and cool water.

In other words, salmon must be raised to not exceed 2.5 percent of the total space inside their fences, and the rest of the space or 97.5 percent is seawater to ensure that the salmon has enough space to swim in. With Thailand as the second topmost importer of Norwegian salmon after Japan, salmon is shipped to Thailand nearly every day, and only 48 hours is required for transportation. The fish is flown in from farms in Oslo, Norway, to ensure that the salmon is as fresh from its place of origin as possible. Accordingly, the top importer of fresh salmon in Thailand is no one else than Makro.