"Joe" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hi, I'm new to this group. I just recently moved from an area that had
> an awesome Japanese market that sold all kinds of sushi grade fish. Now
> that I live in Fairfield, CT I can't find a Japanese market that
> specializes in raw fish. I have found a reputable fish monger who won't
> sell farmed Salmon because of the health concerns but tells me his wild
> Salmon is flown in daily. I've already bought and eaten this salmon raw
> twice (which had absolutely no smell) and it was delicious. Tonight
> I've been reading about this wonderful worm called Anisakis that seems
> to be found in salmon. Should I be concerned? I understand flash
> freezing kills the worms but may not kill the larva. Should I ask the
> fishmonger if it's been flash frozen? If it hasn't do I have to abandon
> my addiction? My love of preparing my own salmon sushi is going to be
> the death of me.
>

In Japan, Salmon was never a traditional sushi ingredient because of both
the distance
from where they caught (up north) and the risk of parasites. In the US,
Japanese itanae trained in
Japan will marinate salmon in salt and vinegar first, then cut away the
surface, as a
precautionary measure. If one had to choose between farmed and wild salmon
for raw consumption,
I would choose the farmed. While many people talk down farmed salmon,
clearly the the use of
antibiotics and at the very least a close observation and testing of the
farmed fish reduces the chances
of there being a parasite. This obviously can't happen with wild fish. Which
also can mingle in
waters with pinnipeds whose dropping I believe are linked to some parasites.
Perhaps the safest method for consuming raw salmon is the way it is done in
Japan, frozen first then
thawed. This practice came from the aboriginal Ainu people who froze their
salmon first. Freezing
at refridgerator freezer temperatures doesn't kill any parasities, but it
will weaken them to the point that
they can't cause you harm.
Oddly, I've seen Anisakis in fish I've caught and fish I've bought, even
amazingly inside an Ankimo
(monkfish liver) but never in salmon.
Musashi