Cover photo credit: Trish Cheney
Seafood is seasonal: Part One
In this two-part blog, I’ll talk about the seasonality of seafood and the way modern technology has increased our options while both raising and lowering our expectations.
Do you know what this is?
If you answered yes, you’re probably old enough to remember when “eating with the seasons” was a necessity rather than a stylish trend[1]. Not so long ago, asparagus was a brief harbinger of spring, pomegranates were a winter treat and from October to July tomatoes were wrapped in cellophane, hard as tennis balls and just about as tasty.
Things have changed: we now take Indian mangoes, New Zealand lamb and Peruvian blueberries as a given even for basic grocers. “What? You don’t have passionfruit? How am I supposed to make my pavlova?” But could the lack of seasonality in “fresh” groceries dumbed down our grocery expectations as much as it’s expanded them? There’s something to be said for enjoying asparagus in April and corn on the cob in August. The stuff we get year-round isn’t nearly as good, so have we lowered our standards?
Most seafood, just like produce, has seasons. So while you CAN get most seafoods year round, should you really do so?
If you’re shopping for frozen seafood, the answer is yes. Today’s technology freezes most seafoods at peak condition, and if stored properly it’ll stay that way until you’re ready to thaw it. In fact, when I see claims of “never frozen”, I often wonder why these companies choose to boast about letting their products degrade (a prettier word than rot) on their shelves. I’d much rather buy something I know was frozen in peak condition.
But if you’re unwilling to thaw your seafood[2], eating with the seasons is your best bet. I’m not sure what that means in your neck of the woods, but here in Maine that means scallops in the winter and spring, tuna in the summer and fall, and lobster year-round, but at a much higher price in winter and spring. That’s just how things work around here.
When I launched Downeast Dayboat, naysayers were quick to label Maine’s brief scallop season a drawback because people (chefs in particular) would want consistency. But I choose to flip that observation on its head: people should look forward to Maine Dayboat Scallops. The fact that they’re only available from December to May makes them even more special, like Beaujolais Nouveau[3].
This same line of reasoning supports my “caught to order” system. I don’t have a warehouse: I take orders and then fetch the fresh scallops required to fulfil them from my dayboat scallopers. That requires customers to plan their purchases, but it also means the quality of the seafood they’ll receive will eclipse what they can get anywhere else. Think about this for a moment: if a supplier can get you fresh seafood on demand, that means he’s got that “fresh” seafood sitting somewhere awaiting your order. And if that’s the case, he’s going to have to follow the first-in, first-out system, meaning you’re always going to get whatever is oldest. Is that how you want to buy your fresh seafood?
The term fresh is defined as “not frozen or otherwise preserved”, but since there’s almost no policing of the term, the consequences of stretching that definition or outright fraud are slim to nil. Seafood in the fresh case is often refreshed, meaning it was frozen and thawed at least once before you buy it. And while there’s nothing wrong with freezing fish, unless you’re the one who thawed it you have no way of knowing how ago that thaw occurred. And even if seafood is technically “fresh”, it may have been treated with chemical solutions to extend its shelf life, so folks who think they’re buying better, healthier seafood by skipping the freezer aisle are often completely misguided.
So what’s the take-home here? I would say there are a couple: the first is that you should buy your seafood from someone you trust[4]. Traditional seafood distribution has many steps, and each one introduces opportunities for mislabeling or mishandling. And the second is to remember that seafood has seasons, so if your fishmonger can’t get you something, maybe that’s not such a bad thing?
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This was a damn cold February day, but the scallops I picked up from Alex (F/V Jacob & Joshua) were delicious!
Footnotes:
[1] For those of you who DON’T recognize this device, it’s the box used to change the channels on your cable TV, and when it came out it was like a gift from the gods because it was connected to the TV with a long cord, so you could stay on the couch rather than having to get up to switch channels (say, from Magnum PI to Barney Miller).
[2] Part 2 of this blog will expand on why you SHOULD be willing to thaw your seafood.
[3] Or, god forbid, PUMPKIN SPICE.
[4] Even better, buy directly from a fisherman, but since most people aren’t fortunate enough to have fisherman friends, a trusted fishmonger is the next best thing.