Dear Lynne,
Why is Copper River salmon so popular and so expensive ?
–Anne from Dallas
Dear Anne,
Why? Great P.R., a stunningly luxurious-tasting fish, a short season (late May to mid-June) and a small supply make it a marketing dream.
The place-specific trend doesn’t hurt either. We have estate coffees, plantation chocolates, place-named salts, locally-identified produce, so why not fish? Today we want to know where our food comes from, and, being human, we are pushovers for exclusivity.
King salmon from Alaska’s Copper River started this salmon trend. Recently Yukon River salmon has joined in and I bet we’ll see more river-named salmon soon.
The exceptional flavor of some of these fish isn’t hype, among other things, it is genetics. Salmon always return to spawn in the same river where they were born. Each river gives its fish a unique genetic structure and that can make for distinctive flavors.
On the price front, the good news is that after the kings pass, less pricey sockeye and coho follow until late summer.
-Lynne
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