Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Efforts Increase to Provide Great Seafood Variety Year-Round

For lovers of wild Alaska seafood, there are new options in Anchorage this winter to purchase a wide variety of fresh, refreshed and frozen fish in a mall market also featuring fresh herbs, vegetables, honey and baked goods.

It’s the South Anchorage Winter Market, at the Dimond Mall, where wild king salmon fillets, both red and white, are for sale along with halibut, cod, oysters, sablefish and other varieties of seafood harvested in Alaska waters. In addition to seafood from Arctic Choice, the marketplace offers vegetables, herbs, honey and loaves of fresh bread – all Alaska grown or made – to compliment the seafood entrees, as well as meat products.

The idea for the indoor winter market stemmed from the desire of the South Anchorage Farmers Market customers to continue purchasing fresh and frozen Alaskan products after summer ends, rather than wait seven months to shop there again. So managers of the farmer’s market picked up and moved at summer’s end to the warmth of an indoor market venue. Upcoming events will include having a celebrity chef demonstrate with seafood, meats and produce ideas for shoppers to use while cooking at home.

Elsewhere in Alaska’s largest city, seafood promotions are picking up speed as the holiday season approaches, and seafood businesses are preparing for the usual high demand for holiday gifts for friends, family and business associates nationwide.


Shipments of Alaska red king crab, harvested in the Bering Sea, are expected to begin arriving in early November, and the big box store Costco has freezer and refrigerator sections well stocked with a variety of salmon- fresh, frozen and smoked, cod, halibut, shrimp and shell fish, including assorted ready to heat and serve items. Food demonstrators this past week were offering shoppers a taste of Trident Seafoods’ new Salmon Bites.