Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Enjoy Health Benefits and Delicious Meals When You Buy Halibut Online

When you buy halibut, you’re buying more than just a delicious fish. There’s a host of health benefits that go along with eating fresh, delicious fish like halibut. And thanks to fast shipping methods, it’s easier than ever to enjoy fresh seafood like halibut. You can easily order seafood online from one of the many fish markets that ship fresh seafood anywhere in the country.

Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that seafood is among the healthiest foods you can add to your diet just hasn’t been paying attention. Most health professionals and nutritionists tout the high content of omega 3, an essential fatty acid that our bodies use to manufacture new cells, but there’s a lot more to the health-preserving qualities in cold water seafood like halibut than just omega 3. As an example, just take a look at what you get when you dig into a portion of delicious and nutritious halibut.

A 4-ounce serving of Pacific halibut, the most popular halibut sold, has about 150 calories. It’s an excellent source of tryptophan and selenium, a very good source of protein, vitamin B3 (niacin), phosphorus and magnesium, and a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins B12 and B6 (pyridoxine) and potassium. That 4-oz serving contains over 100% of your daily value of tryptopan, 75% of the recommended daily value of selenium and 60% of the recommended daily value of protein. That’s a whopping lot of nutrition packed into the succulent, flaky white fish that’s quickly becoming one of the most popular types of seafood in the U.S.

Of course, nutrition is only one part of the story when it comes to eating healthy. After all, it’s no fun to choke down healthy foods that don’t taste good. You could never say that about halibut. The large flatfish, often wild-caught in pristine northern Pacific waters, provide sweet, succulent flesh that’s tasty enough to enjoy raw in sushi and sashimi and versatile enough to cook by nearly any method.

While you may pay a premium when you have buy halibut online and have your seafood shipped to you, it’s the one way to guarantee that you’re getting fresh, sweet halibut at its most flavorful. It’s best to buy halibut online the day before you plan to use it so that it will be delivered to your door the day you plan to cook it. As long as you follow the instructions for storage provided by the fish market from which you order seafood, you can generally keep your fish in the refrigerator for two to three days, but the fresher it is, the better it will taste.

If you’re craving tasty seafood and want a healthy alternative to steak or prime rib for a special occasion dinner, buy halibut steaks or halibut fillets from a fish market that takes orders online and ships seafood anywhere in the country.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Things to Know When You Order Seafood Online

Often, people who live inland find it difficult to find fresh seafood in their local stores. One solution to the problem is to order seafood online from a coastal fish market. Many fish markets nowadays supplement their local business by taking orders online and then shipping it via next day delivery to their customers. The convenience of having seafood shipped from an online fish market sometimes overrides the concerns and questions that consumers might ask if they were shopping in person. If you’re going to order seafood online, it’s a good idea to pick up the phone or open an email and ask the supplier a few questions about the origin of the fish they sell. These are a few of the questions recommended by Food and Water Watch, an organization that supports sustainable seafood sourcing.

Are the Fish You Sell Caught or Farmed Locally?

That may seem a strange question if you’re having seafood shipped from across the country, but it’s still a good question to ask. Every extra mile that your food travels to reach you is less fuel used and less carbon in the atmosphere. If the seafood you order is local at the other end, you’re at least saving miles at the start.

Is Your Seafood Caught or Farmed Domestically?

The U.S. has stringent standards for safe fish handling, as well as about the toxins that can be discharged into the sea. When you order seafood that was farmed or caught domestically, you reduce the risk that your seafood is contaminated with toxic substances – and contribute to the U.S. economy, of course.

Is the Seafood Farmed or Wild?

Most fish markets sell a mix of farmed and wild-caught seafood. In general, wild-caught is preferred, though there are exceptions. Alaskan halibut farms, for example, are subject to strict regulations that ensure high quality, healthy halibut. On the other hand, choose wild-caught salmon over farmed salmon because farmed salmon are often raised in large cages and close quarters that contribute to disease. To reduce the incidence of disease, they may be dosed with antibiotics and other chemicals in the water. Wild-caught salmon are generally healthier and tastier.

If you decide to order seafood online, choose a real fish market that can tell you where their fish is from and how it was harvested. The more you know about your food’s origin, the better off and healthier – not to mention tastier – your meals will be.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Enjoy the Benefits of Seafood Shipped to Your Door

From halibut to lobster tails, shrimp and crab, seafood is among the healthiest and tastiest foods you can add to your diet, but frozen seafood from the supermarket freezer can’t come close to the flavor of fresh seafood, shipped directly to your odor. Once you’ve tasted seafood shipped direct to your door from a dockside fish market, you’ll never be satisfied with supermarket fish again.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting fresh halibut or lobster tails, it’s almost impossible to imagine the taste. While they’re very different in both flavor and texture, they do share the taste of the sea – not briny or salty, but fresh and sweet as the ocean breeze – that marks them as fresh from the ocean.

Where to Buy Lobster Tails and Fresh Halibut

Buying fresh seafood can be difficult if you don’t live near the ocean, but the Internet makes it so much easier. Many fish markets now operate online stores where you can order fresh seafood and have it shipped to you anywhere in the country. When you have fresh seafood shipped directly from a dockside market, it will nearly always be fresher than anything you can buy in a local market.

That’s because your fresh halibut, lobster tails, shrimp and other fish will be packed fresh into a cooler and shipped to you by overnight delivery. Supermarket fish doesn’t get the same delicate treatment. It’s generally packed in with hundreds of other fish and iced down, then sent on a cross country trip in a refrigerated train car or truck. By the time it arrives at your grocer’s fish case, it could be days – even weeks – old. Despite the fact that it’s often frozen immediately after being caught to preserve its nutrients and flavor, you still won’t get the same fresh texture and taste as you do when you have fresh seafood shipped to your door within hours of being caught.

In addition to the flavor, you’ll also enjoy the healthy benefits provided by fresh seafood. According to WHFoods, one of the most comprehensive databases of nutrients in food, fresh halibut is a particularly healthy food. The succulent, sweet white flesh is a very good source of high quality protein and provides significant amounts of selenium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. It’s an excellent source of vitamins B12, niacin and B6, and one of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids. The deficiency of omega 3 essential acids is one of the biggest failings of the typical American diet. The imbalance of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids in the typical American diet contributes to inflammation and may be a contributing factor in many unhealthy conditions, including coronary artery disease, depression and diabetes.

Other fresh seafood offers similar health benefits, along with the same delicious flavors. If you thought eating healthy had to be boring, you may just change your mind when you have fresh seafood shipped to your door and enjoy its many benefits.