This year’s Alaska Symphony of Seafood competition entrants up the bar when it comes to innovation. Products up for the grand prize this year include halibut baby food, gluten-free fish, salmon candy along with non-edible items such as salmon skin leather belts and jewelry.
“The baby food is fun to see. It’s in frozen form, so they don’t do the high pasteurization heat in jars [like traditional baby food],” said Julie Decker, executive director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which hosts the Symphony of Seafood competition, referring to one of the entrants in the Retail category, Hali Halibut by Bambinos Baby Food.
The Retail category features several other innovative products, including Keta Salmon with Lemon Thyme Rub by Orca Bay, Pacific Cod with Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Rub by Orca Bay, Echo Falls Wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon Candy by Ocean Beauty, Morey’s Wild Salmon Steakhouse by Morey’s, Morey’s Wild Salmon Peach Salsa by Morey’s, Fiesta Salmon Bites by Trident, Candied Smoked Salmon from Trapper’s Creek Smoking Co. and Gluten Free Pollock Portion by Odyssey.
There are also more entrants in SOS’s Foodservice category this year, including Sea Fusions Santa Fe Salmon Cakes by Trident Seafoods, Keta Salmon with Maple Bourbon Rub by Orca Bay, Pacific Cod with Smokehouse BBQ Rub by Orca Bay and Canned Smoked Herring by Deckhand Seafoods.
In addition, the unique products in the Beyond the Plate category “get away from the term of ‘by-products’ and do it in a really fun way”, Decker said. “In 2015, we had three different gourmet pet treats in that category and this year, we have three leather products made from fish skins.”
SOS’s Beyond the Plate entrants include salmon leather wallets and belts from Tidal Vision, Quyung-lii Anti-Aging Skin Serum by ArXotica, Key fobs and money clips made with salmon and halibut leather by From the C, and jewelry made with salmon and halibut by-products by From the C.
AFDF added a new category to the competition this year: Beyond the Egg, which includes any product made with roe or uni. Although only one product is entered this year – Salmon Caviar from Alaska Seafood Company –there are several other roe and uni products being marketed using Alaskan seafood, according to Decker.
