> Dear Group:
> I am trying to find out what the flavor characteristics are between
Atlantic
> farmed salmon and wild salmon. size and weight being the same as well as
water
> Temperature if this is at all possable.Thank you Lewis Shuckman
>
My own experience of tasting farmed and wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland is
that there is no systematic difference. The wild fish were caught in nets
in the approaches to the estuaries of rivers to which they were returning
for spawning. There was some variation in flavour within sets, but much
overlap. I did not carry out any systematic flavour profile tests to
quantify the flavour characteristics of the samples. I am discounting the
effect of lipid content on perceived sensory characteristics. Oiliness is
more a mouth feel than a flavour.
Schallich and Gormley, (Schallich, E. & Gormley, T.R., 1996, Condition
factor, fat content and flavour of farmed and wild salmon, Farm & Food,
6(3), 28-31.), compared the flavour of farmed and wild Atlantic salmon from
Irish sources. They do not provide details of the experimental procedures
in the paper, but the context points to a paired preference test being
used. They write:' Twenty-member taste panels were unable to detect a
statistically significant flavour difference between farmed and wild salmon
(steamed and served cold) in three separate panels, with responses of 12/8,
11/9 and 12/8 in favour of the farmed samples. A preference ratio of at
least 15/5 is required for significance.'. Though the individual panel
sessions did not show a significant effect at p=0.05, I see no reason why
the results should not be pooled. In that case, the proportion in favour of
the farmed salmon is 35/60 and is significant at the p=0.05 level. They
also concluded from an instrumental shear test on cooked samples that the
wild salmon had a firmer texture than the farmed.
Peter Howgate