Topic: Clean, sustainable fish: arctic char a rarity in today's world

[Dionysus]

IF you’ve never heard of a fish called “arctic char” — don’t worry, you will. It’s the next superfood. And the only place it grows in the Eastern U.S. is right here in West Virginia.

Besides being one of the tastiest fish to eat (like a cross between its cousins, trout and salmon) and practically foolproof to cook, farmed arctic char is one of the few omega-3-rich fish left on the planet that we can eat as much as we please, without poisoning our brains and our unborn children with mercury and other toxic wastes

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[Cookie Parker]

You can buy arctic char either whole (cleaned and ready to cook) or filleted. With any fish, you get better moistness and flavor by cooking it whole and then cutting the fillets off the bone yourself. But arctic char, which lives farther north than any other freshwater fish — its homeplace is the Arctic Circle — has a little more fat than many other fish to keep it warm, although still only 6 grams per serving, which is less than a skinless chicken thigh.

So arctic char fillets have their own moisture built in. They’re big, too — about half a pound per fillet — so they don’t dry out as easily as small or thin fillets can.

Simple, quick cooking is all this fish needs. Drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and cayenne, grill or broil, and then serve with lemon wedges. Or pan-fry the seasoned fillets in olive oil and butter, and then add a splash of citrus for an automatic pan sauce (see recipe).

Good for you, good for the planet

Fifty years.

That’s how long we have until wild ocean seafood is a memory, according to a study published in November in the journal Science.

Thanks to pollution, global warming and overfishing, we can no longer safely eat many of our most healthful fish — despite urging from the American Heart Association and others that we should eat more fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which protect the heart and brain.

But farmed arctic char are almost as rich in omega-3s as salmon is: 1.4 grams per 5.5-ounce serving, according to Isis Arctic Char’s numbers. And it’s safe to eat.

This sounds fantastic!

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[libby]

Sounds too good to be true. I read a few days ago that some farmed fish had been fed food containing the harmful protein supplement produced by the Chinese.

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[Dionysus]

Sounds too good to be true. I read a few days ago that some farmed fish had been fed food containing the harmful protein supplement produced by the Chinese.

Yes that would be a concern Libby. I've been reading that we've probably already consumed animals fed those harmful chemicals, in our chicken and pork. Hopefully with the attention brought to the matter, things will change.

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