Alaska Salmon Season Is Here!
On FreshDirect, you’ll find sustainably-sourced wild salmon for delivery in New York available year-round. But to get the very best salmon, you’ll have to wait until the summer months. That’s when freshly-caught wild salmon from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest is in-season and shipped to us within a matter of hours of being taken from the water.
What makes Alaska salmon so special? It has a meaty texture and richness that is simply sublime, like a really good grass fed steak. There’s more nuance and depth—the result of all the exercise the fish gets while swimming and hunting for food in west coast waters. This also gives the flesh more of a vivid red color, which makes it especially eye-catching when served.
When is salmon season?
In Alaska, wild salmon season runs roughly from May to Septmber, with the different salmon species arriving in waves throughout the summer months. The season starts when salmon arrive in the region as the travel north to their spawning beds. The exact time of year and the amount of fish that are caught varies, as the Alaska government manages the population according to strict quotas, ensuring that there’s enough salmon for generations to come.
At FreshDirect, we also source wild king salmon from native tribal fishermen along Washington’s Columbia River, via our partners at Foods In Season. In this region, salmon season lasts roughly from August to October.
What are the different salmon species found in the Pacific?
At FreshDirect we source three main types of salmon from our west coast partners. These are:
King salmon
Also known as chinook salmon, these are the largest of the Alaskan fish (up to 120 lb). They are prized for their bright, succulent flesh, high oil content, and firm texture. Peak season runs from late May to mid July in Alaska, and August to October in Washington state.
Sockeye salmon
Wild Alaskan Sockeye or “red salmon” is loved for its robust flavor, dense meatiness, and the bright red hue it maintains, even after cooking. Peak season runs from late May to August.
Coho salmon
Mild and delicate with a vivid color and almost no fishy flavor, wild coho has less fat than other salmon varieties. Peak season runs from mid July to September.
What is special about wild salmon delivered by FreshDirect?
Like all of our seafood, our wild salmon is sourced from responsibly-run fisheries that meet our high standards for sustainability, which are guided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. We work directly with handful of small, family-owned fishing operations, like Tony Wood’s Wild Alaska Salmon & Seafood Company, one of the few totally independent salmon businesses. Because of these close relationships that skip processing by middlemen, we’re able to transport the fish from Pacific to our facilities in the shortest time possible—there’s just about two days between when it’s caught and when we prep it for you at our facilities. Very few retailers on the east coast are able to to offer this degree of freshnees.
Wild salmon is also more flavorful and nutritionally dense than farmed salmon. Because these salmon spend their lives traversing the water, using their swim muscles and looking for diverse food sources, they naturally have more robust flesh. On average, they contain less fat, fewer calories, and a greater amount of vitamins than their farmed counterparts. So when you choose wild salmon, you truly are getting more out of every bite.
Credentials aside, wild salmon is an enduringly popular choice because of its delicious flavor and simplicity to prepare. The following lemon thyme salmon fillet recipe is a perfect example of how little it needs to be magnificent.
Lemon Thyme Roasted Salmon Recipe
What You’ll Need:
4 salmon fillets, 6–8 oz each
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced crosswise
4 sprigs thyme
Olive oil
What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Season the salmon all over with salt and pepper. Place the fillets inside a baking dish, skin skide down. Lay lemon slices and thyme sprigs on top of the fillets. Fill baking dish with oil, until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the fish. Transfer to oven and roast until fish is firm, but still with a slight amount of give, about 25 minutes. Serve with some simple side dishes.