Learning Copper River Salmon

Long time friends (since kindergarten) were visiting for a weekend of Spoleto Festival Charleston. While planning a festive dinner, we were informed it would be really special if we could get some Alaskan Copper River King Salmon. Luckily the Mount Pleasant Whole Foods had some on hand and even though it came with a “dear” price, the friends are “dear” and we aim to please.

The Premium Wild caught King variety is only available for a short time between mid May-June. Because of it’s abundance of omega-3 fatty acids and such a bright deep red color, the salmon is in high demand. The whole fish ranges from 20–50 pounds; it cooks very quickly and retains that gorgeous color. Grilled on a Green Egg, and served with quinoa pilaf and an arugula salad, it was a healthy scrumptious summer dinner.

When I called Whole Foods to find out how much longer this prized catch would be in, I discovered that the season for Premium Wild is over here, but the Copper River Sockeye Salmon was in. It is a smaller variety, but also has the omega-3’s and robust red color.

The news is they should have it in stock for a month and then the Coho would be running; all of these Copper River Salmon are wild caught.

Always game to try new tastes, and learn more about wild caught vs farm raised fish, I am game to keep this education going. Sockeye next! “Game on”!