Buying fresh fish is essential to enjoy quality, healthy and safe fish. But do you know how to identify it? We offer you some elements that you should look at.
Fish is among the healthiest and most important foods in our diet. In a healthy and balanced diet, fish must be present at least two or three times a week.
It is a food full of nutrients and benefits for our body, its caloric intake is low, it is a good source of protein, fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids Omega 3 present especially in blue fish, these essential amino acids help us to prevent bad cholesterol and protect our cardiovascular health.
Among the different nutrients in fish we can mention the presence of good quality proteins (lysine, methionine, cysteine, threonine and tryptophan). On the other hand, it is very rich in healthy fats, although the fat content of the fish varies depending on the type of white, semi-fat, or blue fish.
For example, white fish contributes 3% fat and even less, semi-fat fish between 3% and 5% fat and fatty fish between 5% to 15%, thus becoming the variety with the highest content and fat contribution.
On the other, it also provides vitamins, among which we can mention the presence of vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B12, D and E. And minerals, highlighting the contribution of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, zinc and magnesium.
As we have said before, it is important when buying fish to look at a series of tips or details that will help us to know how to differentiate the really fresh fish.
Tips for recognizing fresh fish
The ideal would be to have a trustworthy fishmonger nearby where we know that the fish they sell us is fresh and, above all, know what days of the week the fish arrives at the fishmonger to buy it freshly arrived.
The advice of the elders of the family always comes in handy and surely more than one of us and on more than one occasion we have heard advice like this when we had to go to the fishmonger:
“Look at the fish’s eyes to detect its freshness, they should be bulging, not sunken, and shiny.”
In addition to these wise advice we must take into account:
- The display trays where the fish is located must be in an inclined position, covered with ice and the fish on top to keep it fresh.
- Fish should never be exposed to the sun.
Regarding the appearance of the fish, we will look at:
- The eyes: They should be bulging, shiny and bulging.
- The gills: they must have a good color, pinkish tone, shiny skin, gills that are dark is not a sign of freshness.
- The smell: It is one of the symptoms that warns us about its freshness sooner, it must give us the smell of the sea.
- The meat of the fish: We must ask the fishmonger to press the meat of the fish with his finger, the meat of the fish has to be firm without sinking under the pressure of the finger or marking the footprint.
- The scales should not come off easily.
- The spines should be glued to the meat.
By following these tips, we will undoubtedly know how to recognize fresh fish and, as we have said before, it is a food that cannot be lacking in a healthy and balanced diet.
It is also an important food in the growth of children, so we must offer it to the little ones 2 or 3 times a week.
Some children find it difficult to eat fish, it is up to parents to let our imagination fly a bit and prepare recipes with fish that are attractive or fun for the little ones, we already know that most of the time children are encouraged to eat by what they see.
One of the ways to cook fish to take better advantage of its properties and benefit from all its nutrients is to grill it with a few drops of virgin olive oil, prepare it in the oven, or simply boil it.
