Wild Kenai Red Salmon

Wild Kenai Red Salmon sources only the highest quality salmon on the market. At every step of our process, we are concerned with maintaining the beauty, integrity, and flavor of the salmon. We consider our product more than a product: it is art, it is our gift to the world, and it is a way we can give back. We consider ours an artisan business, producing the freshest, most carefully crafted smoked salmon available. We believe in our process. We offer it up to you so that you, too, can know the amazing story of this fish.

Catching the Fish

The story of our process begins in Bristol Bay Alaska, the salmon capital of the world. Annually, fisherfolk catch 20-30 million red salmon in Bristol Bay alone over the course of 5 weeks during the summer. Hundreds of boats catch most of this fish and carry it to massive canneries, where the fish is processed in unbelievable quantity.

Our fish, on the other hand, is caught in beachfront set-nets and processed in small batches by the small scale, quality oriented, family owned and operated Naknek Family Fisheries.

NFF sources its fish for processing from generations-old family set-net sites on the beach of Bristol Bay. The salmon are caught in gillnets, then picked by hand into small boats. Each fish is bled as it is pulled from the water, and placed directly into slush ice. Then, the fish is transferred into fresh slush ice on a truck, where it is hauled up to the plant for processing.

Processing

Naknek Family Fisheries concerns itself primarily with quality. Their fish stays cold from the sea to the processing table, and is processed shortly after being caught and driven up from the beach. Whether cut up into fillets to be sold fresh or frozen, or left headed and gutted for us, they process their fish quickly and deftly. If not shipped then, fresh, it is frozen immediately.

Wild Kenai Red Salmon receives its salmon from NFF headed and gutted. This ensures the fillets are protected while frozen, as it waits to be thawed, smoked and sold.

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