I love it when packages show up at my door. It’s such fun! After all you never know what it will be. As the food editor for Where The Food Comes From my past deliveries have included chocolate, popcorn, candy, and other unhealthy but delicious items. Ahh the good old days. Now my food samples consist of oat spreads, cheese sticks, and lots of fish. I know sounds great, but I secretly miss my chocolate.
Why the change? In my opinion, the answer lies somewhere between Generation Y – the millennials (born 1980 to 1994) and Generation Z (born 1995 to 2009).
Data shows Generation Y prefers convenience when it comes to buying food, often not caring about cost or nutrition. Some do gravitate toward plant-based meals and look for organic and non-GMO ingredients in their food. And so the food trend begins.
Generation Z seeks out plant-based foods and are consuming less meat. This generation is looking for food with a balance of protein and vegetables. The catch: they also want convenience. And with the rise of meat prices Generation Z is also looking for alternative protein sources. Good news for the fish market and other companies who prepare good, affordable, and tasty meals.
My recent delivery came from the Honey Smoked Fish Co. My thought? Wow salmon has become very popular, but I have never really been a fan. But I have already reviewed two companies that market salmon in two different product forms… and I liked it. So I figured why not review a third. Folks, I am very glad I did.
The Honey Smoked Fish Co. of Denver, CO, realized smoking salmon was a way to capture and heighten “straight-from-the-sea goodness” of the highest and freshest quality salmon.
Lets check out the factory!
I received Honey Smoked Salmon Stackers with Lemon Chive Spread and Rice Crackers in three varieties: Original, Cracked Pepper, and Chipotle & Lime. With that said, lets get on with the review.
Three staff members of Where The Food Comes From sampled the salmon including our host and producer Chip Carter. Our findings were all very similar.
First, we sampled the lemon chive spread, crackers, and salmon individually for each variety. All of us found them to be a bit on the salty side, but not unpleasantly so. Chip checked the sodium content on the labels and discovered they all contain 560 milligrams (mg) or 24% of the recommended daily allowance of sodium. Not so bad after all.
The Original and Cracked Pepper varieties are absolutely delicious. The Cracked Pepper was definitely peppery and a bit on the spicy side. But this would bode very well with Generation Z who prefers their food on the spicy side.
Chip was clearly impressed and felt the combination of the spread, crackers, and salmon definitely counter-balanced the salty taste. As he put it, “they are clearly meant to ride together.”
Our other staff member found the varieties to be hearty and robust and felt they would “lend themselves well to being a very light lunch or a good snack.”
As for me, I really needed to have a couple of bites of each before I could fully wrap my head around the complex taste. What I discovered was the smoky salty flavor was quite addicting and I kept going back for more.
The Chipotle & Lime variety was definitely strong and in order to fully appreciate it you would really have to love the sweet and bitter notes of the Chipotle pepper. We really didn’t talk about it. My guess we were all up in the air about this one.
The staff of Where The Food Comes From recommends Honey Smoked Salmon Stackers. The product is unique, original, low in calories, low in sodium, and provides 26% of the recommended daily allowance for protein. It lends itself well for travel, a light lunch, or snack. But because the salmon is fresh beware of the expiration date and the fact that it does have to be refrigerated.
