When Fresh means Frozen

My daughters grew up napping after dinner under the table at Go Fish, the Kodama family's sushi bar originally in Olde Mistick Village, while their parents polished off the last delicious bites of Hamachi and Toro, Saba and Sake. The kids did not know the fish was neither fresh nor local, just that it tasted so good.

When they were older I told them how, way back in 1924, Clarence Birdseye founded Birdseye Seafoods Inc. in Springfield Mass. to market flash frozen fish and vegetables. His process, which today uses temperatures of air blasted into coolers at -30° to -60° C to rapidly freeze raw product, caught on rapidly. Now, the vast majority of commercial fin fish, shrimp and scallops are flash frozen right after being caught. When done right, that Yellowtail from the Sea of Japan will taste ocean fresh in Boston weeks later. 

The FDA actually requires raw fish served at sushi bars to be previously flash frozen, which ceases all bacteria growth and kills all parasites (and also reiterates the high quality that flash frozen seafood can be). It also makes your food cheaper by about 20%.

But don't take my (or Google’s) word for it. This article by Elspeth Hay in CAI gives a fisherman's perspective on the value of flash freezing. — Editor

CAI: The Cape, Coast, and Islands NPR stations, WCAI 90.1, WNAN 91.1, and WZAI 94.3 are listener-supported public radio stations serving Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the South Coast.