By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Verlasso is an "ocean-raised farmed salmon" that comes all the way from Chile.
I noticed it on Friday at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where it was being sold for $12.99 a pound next to other farmed Atlantic salmon for $7.99 a pound.
A handout says Verlasso is the first ocean-raised farm salmon to receive a "Good Alternative" buy rating from Seafood Watch, the Monterey Bay Aquarium program that rates seafood sustainability.
On each shrink-wrapped package of the skinless-and-boneless fillets, an oval sticker declares Verlasso is "Salmon Raised in Harmony with Nature."
That's a clever marketing phrase, but you'd think only wild salmon could make the claim.
Verlasso says it uses a "proprietary yeast feed" that is genetically modified.
The feed is packed with omega-3 fatty acids "that provide health benefits to salmon and to us."
I bought wild salmon almost every week at Costco from late May until late September for $8.99 a pound to $14.99 a pound.
Now, I am buying fresh wild-caught cod, haddock and flounder fillets for $7.99 a pound to $8.99 a pound; wild-caught salmon burgers and crab cakes.
Thanks, Verlasso, but I'll stick to wild seafood.
A new item at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack is Chunk Light Skipjack Tuna in Water. A dozen 7-ounce cans were $15.49. The tuna, from Thailand, carries a Kirkland Signature label.
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Another new fish at Costco
Only one species is used, and the skipjack are "free school caught," using a large net called a "purse seine."
The Kirkland Signature packaging doesn't mention mercury, but the Natural Resources Defense Council lists skipjack tuna as containing "moderate" mercury.
But the group claims skipjack are one of the "fish in trouble!"
Today, I made a skipjack tuna salad with chopped scallions and honey crisp apple dressed in Dijon mustard, a little mayo, fresh lime juice, curry powder and ground cumin.
I added extra-virgin olive oil for moisture.
I've been buying Genova-brand canned yellow fin tuna from Costco for a few years, but that tuna is listed as being "high" in mercury.
At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Friday, the low-quality rotisserie chickens were in high demand.
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Three large Pom-brand pomegranates from California yielded 6 cups of seeds. Six pomegranates were $14.99 at Costco on Friday.
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Well of course farmed salmon is going to cost more than wild caught salmon. First the farmers need to buy all that fertilizer to dump in the water, then they have to hire migrant labor and buy fishing rods so the laborers can catch the darn things, and have you seen the price of worms lately? And don't forget, since the farms are mostly in China and Thailand, there are no Congressional mega farm subsidies, and then the farmers have to load the salmon in shipping containers and hope that no Somali pirates hijack them en route to the Port of Los Angeles, after which the consumer picks up the cost of trucking them to New Jersey. Wild caught salmon, on the other hand, all you have to do is promise a grizzly bear you'll take the cover off your neighbor's garbage cans at night and the bear will be so grateful he'll go down to the river and grab you a few salmon, how much does it cost to remove a garbage can lid? Heck, that wild caught salmon should be cheaper than mackerel, and I'll bet Costco is charging north of ten bucks a pound for it. On the other hand, there's so much mercury in that wild caught salmon that it can take your temperature while you eat.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you smoking, Aaron?
DeleteReally well written and funnnnnnyyyyyy.
DeleteWell done.......