Frozen

 

Advantages:
 

The texture and taste of quickly frozen, high-quality seafood is nearly the same as fresh. When seafood is frozen and stored at appropriately low temperatures (at least minus 10 degrees F), bacterial growth is arrested, preserving the product and, in most cases, dramatically extending shelf life.

Properly handled, high-quality frozen fish is not only superior to a stale, unfrozen product but is much less wasteful, easier to inventory and more profitable to handle.

Also, frozen seafood comes in more varieties than fresh seafood, including value-added forms such as breaded, battered or complete dinners.

 
 

What to look for:
  Buy only good quality frozen fish. Proper freezing can maintain quality, but does not improve it.

Freezing should be fast enough to prevent adverse quality changes. Slow freezing (as encountered, for example, in a storage freezer, where heat-transfer characteristics of still air are poor) or incomplete freezing affects texture, flavor and shelf life.

Most frozen seafood should be glazed with a protective coating of ice to prevent dehydration and oxidation during storage and distribution.