Food and Drink

Here are a few ways to get some fish without fishing

Haven’t had the time or desire to try netting your own salmon this year? No need to worry. Whether it’s one fish or a dozen, there are options for filling your freezer or firing up your grill.

For grillers looking for something to add to their holiday weekend meal, 10th & M Seafoods has plenty of options.

“Fresh salmon is being fished all over the state with both sockeyes and kings coming in,” says Dannon Southall. “It’s another great week for fresh seafood to enjoy with the amazing weather we have been experiencing lately.”

Southall says headed and sockeye averaging 4 pounds per fish are $6.95 per pound and fillets are $9.95 per pound. Headed and cleaned kings are $9.95 a pound, while king fillets are $14.95 per pound. Halibut is also an option, with headed and cleaned fish at $9.95 a pound. Fillets and cheeks are also in the store.

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For those looking for freezer-filling options, Su Salmon Co. can do the catching for you. Su Salmon offers a fisher-direct model. They catch sockeye, silver and chum salmon headed for the Susitna River with the goal of “trying to provide for a market that is as close to the Susitna as possible,” Ryan Peterson says.

Su Salmon fishes on prescribed set-net openers jut a mile or so from the western bank of the mouth of the Susitna River. Peterson says as a small operation, they focus on the quality of catching/bleeding/icing/handling each fish. Peterson estimates the season will start next week and continue until mid- to late August. Prices are $6.75 per pound for sockeye, $4.75 per pound for silvers and $8 a fish for chum.

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“Over the last few years we’ve seen a steady increase in demand for these plump and chrome bright Susitna chums,” Peterson says. “They aren’t the racing-striped, dog-toothed hatchery chums from Prince William Sound or Southeast. “They’re sea-bright, wild, fatty fish headed in some cases a few hundred miles to spawn. They’re great anyway you cook them and are our personal preferred fish for strip smoking. Also, the small but fanatical culture of caviar makers in town love to high grade the females for their famously large eggs.”

From the markets

It’s beginning to look a lot like summer at the markets. Farmers are excitedly looking to bring new items and the warm weather is helping.

“Now that we are into July and riding high on incredible hot growing weather of an extended period, the produce is maturing faster and bigger than any time in my memory,” says Barb Landi of the South Anchorage and Midtown farmers markets.

Anchorage Farmers Market: Ben Swimm says more vegetable vendors are joining the market, including Vang Family Farm, Vanderweele Farm and Stockwell Farm. Sarah Bean of Arctic Organics says they will have zucchini this week and with some good luck “snow apple turnips and kohlrabi will be ready by the end of the week.” Other new items include baby lettuce mix, red and green romaine, along with red and green butter lettuces. Brown Dog Farm will have mixed flower bouquets for $20, single-variety bunches for $10 and mini-bouquets for $5. Flowers include sweet peas, cerinthe and strawflowers.

South Anchorage and Midtown farmers markets: Some traditional Alaska veggies are struggling a little with the heat, Landi says. “The first broccoli is available and the first zucchini, too. In our climate, where cool-season crops are king, it’s really been too hot. All the salad vegetables are on board, particularly cucumbers and radishes of all sorts.” Mark Rempel of Rempel Family Farm says new this week at the South market will be zucchini, broccoli, slicing cucumbers and green onions. He also has plenty of lettuces, bok choi, Napa cabbage, kale, rhubarb, basil, mint and other fresh items.

The Midtown market has new farmers joining the fun, including Three Ladybugs Farm, Mid-Valley Greenhouse, Brown Dog Farm and Bergey Family Farm.

Center Market: Alex Davis of AD Farm says he expects to have fresh-from-the-field kale, salad mix, beet greens, rhubarb and chives. “Things are growing like mad, despite the lack of water,” he says.

Davis also has fresh eggs, a variety of pork cuts (roast, chops, sausage, hocks), jams, grass-fed beef and lamb.

Muldoon Farmers Market: At the Muldoon market, Jerrianne Lowther echoes others, highlighting the growing veggie options. “We expect salad materials from arugula to zucchini, as well as mustard greens, broccoli, bok choi, onions, radishes and herbs,” she says. Other market highlights include jams, jellies, pickles, seafood and baked goods.

Local farmers markets

Friday in Anchorage: Center Market, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Midtown Mall

Friday outside of Anchorage: Palmer Friday Fling, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., South Valley Way

Saturday in Anchorage: Anchorage Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., 15th Avenue and Cordova Street; Anchorage Market and Festival, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Third Avenue between C and E streets; Anchorage Midtown Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., BP Alaska; Center Market, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Midtown Mall; Jewel Lake Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 8427 Jewel Lake Road; Muldoon Farmers Market, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Chanshtnu Muldoon Park; South Anchorage Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., O’Malley Sports Center; Spenard Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., 2555 Spenard Road

Saturday outside of Anchorage: Healy Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Mile 249.2 Parks Highway; Highway’s End Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Delta Junction; Homer Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Ocean Drive; Tanana Valley Farmer’s Market, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 2600 College Road, Fairbanks

Sunday in Anchorage: Anchorage Market and Festival, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Third Avenue between C and E streets

Tuesday outside of Anchorage: Food Bank Farmers Market, 3-6 p.m., Kenai Peninsula Food Bank, 33955 Community College Drive, Soldotna

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Wednesday in Anchorage: Center Market, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Midtown Mall; Wednesday Market at Airport Heights, 3-7 p.m., Fire Island Rustic Bake Shop, 2530 E. 16 th Ave.

Wednesday outside of Anchorage: Highway’s End Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Delta Junction; Homer Farmers Market, 2-5 p.m., Ocean Drive; Soldotna Wednesday Market, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Soldotna Creek Park; Tanana Valley Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 2600 College Road, Fairbanks; Wasilla Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Iditapark/Wonderland Park

Thursday in Anchorage: Thankful Thursdays market, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Midtown Mall

Thursday outside of Anchorage: Peters Creek Farmers Market, 3-7 p.m., American Legion Post 33, 21426 Old Glenn Highway

Steve Edwards

Steve Edwards lives and writes in Anchorage. He writes the Market Fresh column weekly and can be reached akmarketfresh@gmail.com.

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