TALK ABOUT FRESH FISH

What do you mean by fresh fish?.... It has never been frozen and it has not been hanging around in the back of a lorry or warehouse just waiting to be put on a shelf or fish display. Fresh fish comes to you as ‘straight off the boat’ as it is possible for it to be. Where most consumer buy from the local market, they buy on quality and not purely on price. The collective years of experience lead supplier to be very selective over what is good enough for fresh fish customers. Only the best fish obtained from the source are considered fresh. Below are some tips about fresh fish:

1. Fresh fish are not necessarily better
The ‘fresh’ fish on ice in the seafood tray are actually the very same fish available a step or two away in the freezer case; they’ve just been defrosted for your ‘convenience’ — and marked up for the store’s profit. If you are looking to buy to store for the week, it is often better to just buy the pre-frozen fish (refer to below for more on frozen fish) to avoid freezing the same food twice.

2. Wet markets do not sell the best fish
Unfortunately in Malaysia this is definitely not the case. Wet market is an extremely price competitive arena where fishmongers compete on prices. Every morning, tons of frozen fish from Thailand & Indonesia are brought to every wet market across Malaysia – to be defrosted and sold to the visitors. Periodically there will be reports on the dangerously high concentration of formaldehyde in the seafood.

3. “Fresh-from-the-boat” is not a guarantee!
Seafood degrades the minute it leaves the water. Most (if not all) Malaysian boats do not have full freezing facility on board and yet some would be out in the sea for weeks. Sources from Gelang Patah, Kuala Selangor, Sekinchan, Melaka would be caught weeks ago before they reach you - despite they are “fresh-from-the-boat”. For the real fresh ones, buy the Pontian fish. Pontian boats are generally smaller and the fishing trips are usually only 36 hours - offering the true fresh-from-the-boat quality.

4. Not all frozen fish are the same

It depends on how long the fish has been frozen. Most frozen fish have been sitting in the freezer for months. Ice crystal would cut through the cell membranes. That is when you get fish flesh that are like potato mash.

Have a nice day!!

By,

M Anem,

Senior Agronomist,

Taman Cendana, Melaka City,

Melaka, Malaysia.

(1 Muhharam 1440H).
Published from,
Enggang 2 Ballroom,
Continental Hotel,
Langkawi, Kedah.
2 April 2019.