Went to the supermarket with my wife today... - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Mr. Sandman · 03-10-2007, 06:24 PM

At S&S looking at the seafood display...There I see "Bay Scallops" $5.99/#... The lady behind the counter says...do you want some scallops? "uhhhhh no I normally catch my own but @ 5.99 I think I may start buying them, What bay did they come from?" I asked.... She said they were previously frozen and from China.

China? Bay scallops? WTF?

Previously frozen I said? She replied...yes, thawed for your convienence ....I laughed...

Another lady next to me said....they have local ones at the fishmarket for $30/#...I said "that is more like it." I can't imagine digging and sh#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g a # of scallops for 5.99- the 100% marketup the store puts on them.

I was interested in tasting them raw but my wife dragged me away....have any of you tasted $5.99 scallops from China? Are they any good at all?

ProfessorM · 03-10-2007, 06:27 PM

I think they have used the china ones at the festival in Buzzards Bay for years.

daceman63 · 03-10-2007, 06:29 PM

I saw them in the paperand I have not tried them. How good could they be for 5.99 lb. when they are shipped that far andf they are still only 5.99 lb.

I saw that in the shaws paper and the roche bros. paper. I was more intereste din the raw shrimp for bait. 26 to 30 shrimp for 5.99 lb. Large raw shrimp...that should be good enough for bait. lol

fcap60 · 03-10-2007, 07:03 PM

I belive Asia, in general, is the most advance part of the world in connection with farm raised, fish, shrimp, etc.

Mr. Sandman · 03-10-2007, 07:25 PM

at 5.99 we may as well admit defeat and just let them have the market. I am surprised they can grow them there, they need a high level of water quality to grow them. No way can we beat that price here in the traditional fashion we have been doing.

Raven · 03-10-2007, 07:28 PM

what does an individual seaworm cost now...
more than a quarter.

i too have been lookin for shrimp to use as bait.

i recently read however that some farm raised shrimp from
Asia has some strange properties due to what they feed them.

i only eat jumbo fresh scallops said to be the healthiest if harvested
from the deepest water.

Squid kids Dad · 03-10-2007, 07:32 PM

I have eaten them and they are pretty good..

Backbeach Jake · 03-10-2007, 08:34 PM

My wife has bought those occasionally for years. Baked/stuffed very good.

Joe · 03-10-2007, 08:42 PM

Good article in Salon.com about the $4.84 a pound fresh salmon you can get at a Super Wal-Mart (one that sells food) that's their everyday price.....
Chilean Salmon

The wild caught scallops are better, but not five times better....

gone fishin · 03-10-2007, 09:22 PM

Talk about them all you want.. at that price it sort of makes you wonder, our local fishermen are geting screwed over by the govt. with days at sea allotments and all the other @#$%

regulations. They risk their lives to make a living. ( remember - we lost three boats and crews a couple of weeks ago ) I for one will NOT buy the scab imports!

Goose · 03-10-2007, 09:30 PM

China ain't the only place they come from. I worked at Mar Lees seafood where they received scallops from all over the world,of all the ones I tryed canadians where the best, before they soaked the heck out of them of course.

ProfessorM · 03-10-2007, 10:40 PM

Digby, Nova Scotia Scallops. Best in the world. http://www.townofdigby.ns.ca/main.html
Eaten them there and it ain't no lie, but I'm bias as it was my grandma's birthplace

justplugit · 03-10-2007, 11:00 PM

From what i understand ,China was the first country to start fish farming 100's of years ago, and are way ahead of most countries in their methods. US fish farming is only been done for about 30 years. Almost all our shrimp comes from Taihland.

daceman63 · 03-11-2007, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justplugit

From what i understand ,China was the first country to start fish farming 100's of years ago, and are way ahead of most countries in their methods. US fish farming is only been done for about 30 years. Almost all our shrimp comes from Taihland.

I thought it came from the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Company....lmao!!!

Fish_Eye · 03-11-2007, 08:03 AM

Sandman,

IMHO they aren't good for anything but filler in stuffing or in chowder. I once did a presentation on eelgrass in CT and the local DEP biologist told me that those Chinese scallops were started from seed scallops from Niantic, CT.

You can't beat native bay scallops that haven't been tainted by soaking them in chemicals...same with ocean scallops -- make mine "top of the pile" and dry.

ProfessorM, my grandma hailed from Nova Scotia where my great grandfather ran a lobster boat and a tannery, I'll have to make the trip...if only for the scallops.

Mike

spence · 03-11-2007, 08:34 AM

Only 4 or 5 years ago you could find really nice scallops from the Georges Bank as S&S for 3.99.

Even now the local fish market has excellent quality ones for 12 bucks or so...a bit more for the smaller New Bedford scallops...well worth the money.

Most all of the shrimp you see is frozen from Asia...but shrimp doesn't mind being frozen at all. That being said I'll pay the 16 bucks a pound for fresh gulf shrimp when it's around.

Anyone know where I can get fresh shrimp or prawns with the heads on?

-spence

stripersnipr · 03-11-2007, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spence

Anyone know where I can get fresh shrimp or prawns with the heads on?

-spence

PM sent

Swimmer · 03-11-2007, 10:24 AM

Sandman I would have liked to have been looking at your face when the lady said "thawed for your convenience"...........

My wife buys the five # bag of ocean scallops at Whole Foods and they taste great. Are they the more tender bay scallops, no, but they are not bad. When I lived on the Vineyard I used to get the unshucked morsels from Earl ...... I wont mention his last name and used to eat them raw, oh god were they great.

baldwin · 03-11-2007, 10:38 AM

China was the first country to start fish farming 100's of years ago, and are way ahead of most countries in their methods.

A guy named Fan Li wrote a paper on carp farming in China a couple hundred years b.c. Egypt was growing tilapia in their irrigation systems at about the same time. I think those Chinese scallops were brought there from the states. Those Chilean salmon are farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Lately, there has been an increase in aquaculture of species transported around the world. It still has problems, such as invasiveness of escaped transplants, but does bring cheap seafood to our markets. We have to really work on things in order to compete in today's global economy. It's really difficult to compete with people who live in more favorable climates for some of these species, have few environmental controls, and will work for pennies an hour.
I've also had those scallops in Digby, but the regular cook at the restaurant I ate at was out sick and whoever replaced him hadn't changed the oil in the fryolator for quite some time, so mine were lousy. But, Digby is famous for those scallops.