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World of abalone/ Everything you need to know about abalones/

Commercial aquaculture ventures are putting abalone back on the menu, particularly the Haliotis midae, one of five local species. The environmental bona fides are sound: Farmed abalone has been given the green light by SASSI, the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative. World of abalone

The annual SASSI listgrades different species using a color-code of red, orange and green, to create awareness and guide consumers in making responsible seafood choices. Wild abalone, unfortunately, bears the red “don’t buy” designation, reserved for species harvested from unsustainable populations.

Know More about abalones

Abalone is a gastropod mollusk that lives in coastal saltwater. World of abalone A member of the Haliotidae family, it ranges in size from 4 to 10 inches. Like other univalve snails, it has a single shell on top and uses a large foot to cling to rocks and eat algae. The abalone shell is flat and spiral-shaped with several small holes around the edges. Its other names include ear shells and sea ears because of its shell shape. World of abalone is in The interior of the shell is an iridescent mother of pearl (nacre) pattern that is as prized as the meat it protects.

Varieties

There are around 100 species of abalone worldwide. About 15 species are grown in aquaculture settings and North America is home to about nine species. Black, pink, pinto, red, and white abalone are the most common.

 

The popularity of abalone led to overfishing and nearly brought the shellfish to extinction. Both white and black abalone that live off the California coast are on the endangered species list and it is illegal to gather wild abalone from the oceans in many parts of the world. Due to careful management practices and strict harvesting regulations, wild abalone populations are making a comeback. Farmed abalone is increasingly available.

How do abalones taste

 

Due to regulations and the fact that the abalone requires special preparation before eating, it is expensive. Abalone in the shell needs to be carefully pried out and the meat tenderized. World of abalone. People who eat the shellfish say that the cost and work involved are worth it; the meat is simultaneously sweet, salty, and buttery.

 
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The Spruce Eats / Catherine Song 

How to Cook Abalone

To prepare abalone, it must be shucked, cleaned, and tenderized or the meat will have a rubbery texture. The abalone attaches to its shell with a solid round muscle at the bottom. To gently release the meat from the shell, a wide, flat, wooden spatula works well. It is sometimes soaked, blanched, or frozen prior to shelling. The viscera (guts), black edges, and tough outer skin is then removed. All parts are edible, but eating these trimmed pieces is a matter of taste and careful preparation so they’re often discarded.World of abalone

 

The cleaned abalone meat needs to be tenderized, often by pounding it whole or as thick-cut steaks; it can also be done with long, slow cooking methods. The delicate flesh will pick up the flavor of other foods it’s cooked with, so seasoning is generally light. Treated carefully as a delicacy, abalone is often gently and quickly fried in a pan, though it may be steamed or poached. It is also eaten raw, particularly in Japanese sashimi.

 

What Does Abalone Taste Like?

When properly tenderized, abalone has a taste often likened to a cross between scallops and foie gras. Abalone has a crisp chewiness with the distinct saltiness of the ocean waters it lives in, though it is also rich and sweet with a buttery finish. This food is also an excellent way to get a taste of umami as well.

Where to Buy Abalone

In many parts of the world, it is illegal to harvest or sell wild abalone. The laws vary greatly and it’s important to check the rules and regulations where you live if you plan on diving for abalone. Even commercial fishers are often restricted in how many wild abalones they can gather in a certain period of time. Farming abalone has become common in areas where this special mollusk lives. It’s a convenient way to find sustainably raised abalone, just be sure to buy it from a reputable supplier. Fresh abalone can often be shipped overnight.

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Buy abalone meat in UK

 

Whole abalone is commonly sold by weight. It’s important to remember that the shell is heavy; consider that you’ll get less than half the total weight in meat. When selecting fresh abalone, it should be thick, dark, and have no off smells. Shucked, cleaned, and frozen abalone meat is also available and the price is comparable to the whole shellfish because of the extra processing required. In either form, abalone is expensive and considered a luxury food. Finding a “deal” on this shellfish may mean that it is poor quality or illegally harvested.

Abalone lifestyle

Abalone are herbivores that trap bits of kelp and other seaweeds by clamping down on the plants with their “foot”. They use the neat row of holes – tremata – along the edges of their shells to breathe.

Abalone are slow-growing and take eight to nine years to reach the minimum legal size (114mm shell breadth) at which they can be collected.

Abalone under attack

The San and Khoi-Khoi first fished for abalone more than 125 000 years ago. In the 1940s, commercial abalone fishery was thriving, but today it is illegal to take perlemoen from the ocean.

Abalone is a highly prized delicacy and aphrodisiac in the Far East and fetches steep prices on the black market. Poaching is rife and corruption and drug dealing aggravate the problem further. 

Illegal to take abalone

It is illegal to take abalone from the ocean. Numbers of abalone are now at critically low levels because of over-exploitation. Poaching is the biggest threat to abalone. People in local communities are either paid money or given drugs by large syndicates to illegally remove abalone from the ocean. The abalone is then exported overseas. The World of abalone is fascinating.

If poaching continues at this rate, abalone will soon be extinct in the wild and this will have a devastating impact on the ecological balance of kelp forests as well as on local communities. Beauty is the World of abalone

 

Though not widely available, canned abalone can be found. Cleaned and cooked, it is convenient and probably one of the most expensive canned foods you’ll put in the pantry.

 

Abalone vs. Whelk

Also a gastropod, whelk is from the Buccindae family. It is considerably cheaper than abalone. Whelk is primarily an Atlantic Ocean sea snail with a spiral shell and it’s most common in European cuisines. 

World of abalone It’s smaller than abalone, doesn’t require as much preparation, and often cooked and served in the shell. The taste is similar to clams and it can easily become too chewy when overcooked.

 

Abalone Recipes

Abalone is often treated in a very delicate way that showcases the shellfish’s esteemed meat. Gourmet dishes all in World of abalone, will often simply fry steaks, sometimes in butter and with mushrooms, while one favorite California dish breads it before cooking. It’s very common to see abalone in upscale versions of Southeast Asian restaurant dishes, including raw as sashimi or tartare, as part of a baked seafood medley platter, or as a topping for soup and porridge.

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The abalone aquaculture industry in numbers

According to a report from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), annual global production of cultivated abalone was 150,000 metric tons (MT) in 2016. In the same year, South Africa produced 1,500 MT, or just 1 percent of the global supply. The local industry is therefore small, but the country is nevertheless the third-largest producer worldwide, after China and South Korea.

It is however a high-value product in a niche market – and has been dubbed “white gold.” In South Africa, prices have averaged between $30 and $50 (U.S.) per kilogram for several years, with total annual legal production amounting to about $45 million.

There is also potential for significant growth. In 2016, a Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) report, commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry, stated that aquaculture could potentially produce “6,800 tons per annum by 2025, representing a relative proportion of 4.5 percent” of global production.

The heart of South Africa’s abalone industry lies on the shores of Walker Bay in the town of Hermanus, where a cluster of aquaculture farms neighbor one another in the new harbor. World of abalone

In the 1980s, a local veterinarian,Dr. Pierre Hugo, began studying abalone in his shower basin. Discussions with recreational divers made him concerned about the future of wild populations, and so he decided to experiment with breeding them in captivity for potential stock enhancement. His sons hauled buckets of seawater from the beach, while he borrowed his wife’s Magimix to grind up kelp for feed.

A small stone building bears testimony to his early pioneering efforts at the old harbor. Today it is used for shark research, but more than 30 years ago it was Hugo’s first abalone hatchery. His experiments were so successful that soon he could approach investors with plans for a financially viable business.

Storing Abalone

It is preferable that fresh abalone is prepared and eaten the same day as it was caught or purchased. It can be kept alive overnight in the refrigerator: Place it in a bowl covered with wet towels. Any abalone you won’t eat by the next day should be shucked and cleaned, then frozen. Commercially canned abalone may keep for up to five years.

Premium product, niche markets

“The most important thing to remember with abalone is that it’s got nothing to do with the shell or the size,” said Pope. “It’s all about the quality of the meat. It’s the taste, the flavor and texture.”

South Africa’s Haliotis midae is highly regarded, particularly in eastern countries, because of the quality of its meat,

 relative price point and its similarity in taste to the Japanese Haliotis discus hannai. Other popular species include the

 Australian Haliotis laevigata, which is used for live export because of its proximity to Asia, reducing the risk and cost of

 transportation. The New Zealand Paua (Haliotis iris) has a particularly striking shell for making buttons, jewellery 

and trinkets, while the California Red (Haliotis rufencens) gives a good yield. In our World of abalones.

“South Africa and our various individual brands are quite well recognized,” said Piek. “A large part sits in our brand value.”

Current production is mainly exported, as the domestic market is miniscule. Most South Africanscannot afford it,

 and they are somewhat resistant consumers. How do abalones taste

“People used to take them out of the sea themselves in the past, but now it’s around R400 (US $27) or more per

 kilogram,” he said.

However, in Asian markets – such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan for example – there is an “age-long culture of

 eating and consuming abalone and preparing high-end dishes,” said Piek. Therefore the industry’s target markets,

 he added, are those who are “willing to pay the premium.” How do abalones taste

Piek compares the various abalone species to wines, and there is a sophisticated culinary market in Asia.

“It depends on the connoisseur. They appreciate the differences between the species and even the different recipes 

from the various factories,” he said. Know More about abalones

“We don’t sell retail. We sell to high-end restaurants and hotels.” said Pope, adding that part of the Asian market still

 clings to the cultural belief that abalone is an aphrodisiac, and producers are constantly having to educate their clients.

She added that consumers are starting to realize that while wild and farmed abalone taste the same, farmed abalone is

 more consistent, more reliable, more legitimate and more hygienic. How do abalones taste

Obstacles aplenty

Despite its achievements, abalone aquaculture has a fair amount of challenges. Early last year, a devastating red tide

 swept across the bay. Algal blooms are common, but in this event the wind refused to change, and it lasted for an

 annihilating 42 days. Some of the bigger farms lost between 30 to 50 percent of their stock. It was a hard lesson and

 expensive knock, but it made way for new advancements and contingency plans. Know More about abalones

Other challenges include labor issues, energy costs and a tough regulatory system.

The daily feeding, cleaning of tanks and general maintenance along a corrosive shoreline means that abalone farming is

 labor-intensive. How do abalones taste.

The Hermanus farms were hard-hit by service delivery protests earlier this year. According to Piek, Abagold lost around

 15 to 20 working days due to stay-away action and community unrest. And although the protests were not aimed at the

 farms, it is a nationwide issue that adds an extra layer of difficulties – particularly for operations that employ hundreds of

 staff members.

“One of our biggest challenges is that the cost of production of land-based aquaculture is very, very high,” said

 Piek. Know More about abalones, The farm pumps a lot of water – nearly 10,000 liters per hour – and that entails high

 energy costs. How do abalones taste

Briers from Aqunion concurs: “We have a lot of challenges with labor and the cost of labor,” he said.

 “Some of our top line costs are obviously, similar to many businesses, labor and electricity.”

The industry’s legal compliance framework is equally grueling. Numerous permits and approvals are required. 

Know More about abalones There are also global trade restrictions, tariffs, stringent labelling requirements and a host 

of other hoops to jump through. How do abalones taste.

The regulations also make access into the domestic market even harder. While they are aimed at curbing poaching,

 it is impossible to distinguish between a farmed abalone or one taken out of the sea. How do abalones taste

“Red tape, red tape, red tape,” said Loubser. He added there seems to be a level of unwillingness or incompetency

 among government officials to make a difference, or to promote and assist the industry. Know More about abalones 

and here you can find out more. How do abalones taste

“Sometimes it even appears as if government tries their best to prevent the establishment of new business and job creation,” he said. How do abalones taste

ASC certification requires a clean sea and addressing the plastic problem. Before this, we recognised how serious the

 plastic problem and ocean pollution were, but we couldn’t start changing our aquaculture practices,” said abalone

 farmer, Joo Jae-Yong. “But through the ASC certification process, we are able to change our traditional aquaculture

 practices.”

Such changes include upgrading to more durable and environmentally friendly facilities as well as stopping the use of

 chemicals. Despite the challenges of meeting the requirements, the farmers support the certification scheme.

“I have raised very fresh, healthy, environmentally-friendly abalone, but I didn’t used to have any evidence for it,” says abalone farmer, Choi Hyun Joo. “Through the ASC certification, I feel I am now recognised by other people as a responsible aquaculture farmer.” Know More about abalones

Wando County will soon join the list of overseas suppliers providing sustainable abalone to Hong Kong, where importing products with ASC certification helps meet the city’s goal of becoming Asia’s most sustainable city. 

Know More about abalones a lot more.

According to the 2019 Hong Kong Ecological Footprint report, Hong Kong’s ecological footprint — the amount of

 productive land and resources needed to meet a society’s consumption demands — is now so large that if everyone

 consumed as much as the average Hong Konger, the human population would need 4.2 earths to sustain itself.

Food contributes to 21 per cent of this footprint, with 23 per cent of that comprising seafood. Hardly surprising given 

that Hong Kong’s seafood consumption rate is three times higher than the global average and, according to a 2015 

WWF survey, more than half of the assessed live seafood for sale in Chinese and seafood restaurants are unsustainable.

Hong Kong imports most of the seafood it consumes, which is why WWF supports sustainable fisheries and aquaculture

 by working with stakeholders along the supply chain, such as Chungsan Fishermen’s Organization.

 Consumers can also do their part — next time you shop seafood to put on your table, take time to consider their origin. How do abalones taste

Know more about abalones, buy abalone meat in uk, World of abalone

How do abalones taste

World of abalone

Know More about abalones

Everything you need to know about abalones

How do abalones taste

buy abalone meat in uk

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