Frozen Fish Versus 'Fresh' Fish

We discuss which is best

Frozen fish is as good as fresh fish, and indeed sometimes better

This can be so as long as the fish has been frozen quickly and soon after being caught. When fish is frozen in this way it is sometimes even frozen whilst still at sea on the fish trawlers at incredibly low temperature. The fish is frozen fresh within hours of being caught. When was the last time you had a 'fresh' fish that was this fresh? Flash freezing reduces fish to -40°C to perfectly preserve it. This process ensures that the ice crystals formed within the flesh are extremely small which reduces water absorption and destruction of the fish cells. When water freezes it expands and this is what can cause the damage – however the more quickly the crystals are made the smaller they are and the better the fish quality.

Freezing – an Ancient Practice

The process of freezing food has been around for thousands of years

Inuit peoples have preserved their fish this way for many generations so that they had a rich source of protein even when hunting expeditions failed. Of course they have the ideal freezing conditions! The ancient Chinese also use ice cellars to preserve their food during the winter months and the Romans also used compressed snow to preserve their foods. Click here for the full history of frozen foods through the decades.

 

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Nick Adams goes behind the scenes of frozen fish

Nick is passionate about his food but admits he's never really stopped and considered just how many people are involved in its harvesting for it to reach him at his dinner table! We sent Nick to Five Star Fish and to Grimbsby Fish Market to find out all he needed to know.

• Read Nick's profile here
• See Nick's day discovering frozen fish

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Modern Freezing

Brought to us by a man with a name we well know!

It was a scientist, Clarence Birdseye, who brought the knowledge to the US for commercial use and invented modern frozen foods as we know it today.

Freezing Quality

Blind tasting shows that frozen fish is often preferred to fresh fish

If the fish is quickly frozen in this way it is virtually impossible (as blind tasting has proved*) to tell it apart from a fresh fish that was caught only hours before it was put on your plate – but how often do we experience fish that fresh? Even fish from a market can have spent days in transit and storage. So, frozen in many cases can be better than so called ‘fresh’ – ‘Fresh’ fish takes about a week, sometimes more, in transport before it gets to our shop shelves. All this time the fish is ‘on ice’ and, in terms of preservation, this is very different to fish being quickly frozen. Fish sitting on ice still degrades whereas freezing fish stops the degrading process entirely. If fresh fish is kept on ice from the time it is caught it has a shorter shelf life. Often by the time it reaches us in a shop it can be in your fridge for a couple of only days before it goes off!

Home Freezing Fish

In short – freezing is best left to the professionals!

When it comes to home freezing of fish it can take a long time to reduce the fish to the required freezing temperature and the results are the opposite of the above: large ice crystals damage the flesh structure and when the fish is defrosted and cooked the fish can feel waterlogged and tasteless. Freezing fish is best left to the men on the boats out at sea! 

Why not drop us a line or ask us a questioabout frozen food? We would love to hear you views on fresh Vs frozen.

 

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^{*FASFA controlled blind tasting of 14 fish types at Smales in Hull 12 October 2007. Monitored and overseen by Seafish}