How to Buy, Cook, and Store Seafood

Seafood is an essential part of any healthy diet. It is rich in many nutrient elements including omega 3 oil that saves body from hypertension, high cholesterol level and aging problems. Thus it is recommended that the healthy man should eat fish at least twice a week. Due to its remarkable importance, it is necessary to know how to shop for seafood, how to prepare it, and how to store it.

While shopping for seafood, try to make sure of the following:
- Fish is fresh, shiny, with clear eyes,
- Shellfish including oyster, mussels and clams should close tightly when tapped. Fillet should be moist with elastic flesh.
- Frozen and canned seafood is also good but one should make sure that it is frozen in a healthy way and its smell is good not rotten.

There are numerous meals that can be prepared using seafood, but there are some tips that you should abide by whenever you are planning to serve seafood:
- Use clean cutting board, knives and utensils
- If you are using canned seafood, wash the lid before opening the can because it is sometimes on display in the supermarket for a long time and there are some bacteria on its surface.
- Cook at 145°F or hotter to kill the bacteria
- stir from time to time while to make sure that it is totally cooked.
- Avoid overcooking or half-cooking seafood to enjoy its nutritious value and getting ride of the bacteria.

For storing seafood you can:
- Put it directly in the refrigerator in a tightly closed plastic bag, if you are going to keep some of the seafood for the next day,
- keep it in the freezer in a tightly closed plastic bag, if you would keep it for a week and try not to keep it more than that to enjoy its fresh taste.
- Canned and pouched seafood can be stored for years but it is better to eat it after one year.
- Mussels and clams, fish fillets and other kinds of seafood should be stored on ice bed to stay fresh and taste good and never in water or cold water in order not to lose their taste.