New Seafood Ideas Are Catching On : Consumers Get Hooked on Tuna Franks, Ham of the Sea

For years, canned tuna, frozen fish sticks and pickled herring constituted the bulk of processed seafood products available to consumers.

Today, more imaginative offerings are being introduced by both domestic and international firms eager to capitalize on the public’s heightened interest in fish.

Many such new and unusual items debuted at Sea Fare ‘88, a recently concluded trade show at the Long Beach Convention Center. The latest entries ranged from exotic tropical fish species to the next generation of surimi, the highly processed seafood analog used primarily for imitation crab.

Certainly, the most ingenious new brand name to surface was Ham of the Sea. At present, the line consists of tuna frankfurters and a ham-like luncheon meat made entirely from fish. The frankfurters are a blend of the yellow fin and skipjack tuna varieties while the deli-style meat is made from mahi-mahi. The products, manufactured in Costa Rica, are both low in calories, sodium and fat. Jerry Grisaffi, Ham of the Sea president, said he just came up with the catchy title without so much as mentioning that somewhat similar-sounding brand of canned tuna. Response to Ham of the Sea, he said, was extremely positive. And to prove the point, Grisaffi claims the U.S. Navy has agreed to become one of his first customers. The rest of the country can expect to see Ham of the Sea by April.

Also in the processed realm is Tempura Claws, imitation crab coated with a Japanese-style batter. But the ingenuity doesn’t end with the crispy coating. This item, from Sea-Legs, is actually topped with the pincer-like claw from a real crab’s shell, an addition which greatly assists both appearance and handling.

Still Looks Artificial

Tempura Claws also address a problem that the surimi manufacturers have yet to solve: imitation crab still looks artificial despite continuing texture improvement. But surimi’s appearance isn’t an issue when it’s covered with breading and then topped with a real claw. In fact, Tempura Claws visually compete with the more traditional fried shellfish lines of shrimp and scallops. Sea-Legs, a division of Berelson Co. in San Francisco, plans national distribution of Tempura Claws later this month.

Texture is also at the heart of a breakthrough for the crayfish industry. Though the tiny, fresh water crustaceans have a devoted following, particularly in the Deep South, the limited meat yield from each animal often proves discouraging to the uninitiated.

However, as a result of Louisiana State University’s research, more than 200 producers are now marketing soft-shell crayfish, all of which are edible in much the same manner as soft-shell crabs. The trick is getting the farm-raised crayfish to molt, or shed their hard outer shell, under controlled conditions at a processing facility. The prospect of a wholly edible crayfish is likely to give a boost to this industry, which is hoping to maintain the attention it received when Cajun and Creole foods were at the height of their popularity. Among those offering soft shell crayfish, packaged and sold frozen, are Gulf Coast Seafood-Shippers, Ltd., of Baton Rouge, La., and Pacific Crayfish of Los Angeles.

Producers of another distinctly Southern food--catfish--are also making a major effort to expand upon regional appeal though the use of advertising as opposed to new products. The recently formed Catfish Growers Assn. will launch a $1 million promotional campaign in California beginning next month, according to Samuel I. Hinote, president of Delta Catfish Processors, Inc., of Indianola, Miss.

The group is targeting California because the state has proved a willing customer in the past. It is the nation’s fifth largest consumer of fresh water catfish, following only Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Fish Is a Newcomer

While catfish producers struggle to increase market share in the coming months, another farmed product will appear for the first time in area seafood counters. The newcomer is golden tilapia. Solar Aquafarms, of Sun City, Calif., is now marketing the bright colored fish, which is raised in special tanks on high desert land south of Riverside. Tilapia, a familiar species in many parts of the world, is rarely sold commercially in the continental United States. The farmed version, with its delicate taste, is likely to change the omission.

Relatively obscure fish from both distant and domestic waters were well represented at Sea Fare. Euphemistically called underutilized species by trade groups, many of the exotic-sounding and strange-looking fish may do well in the next year.

The American Fish & Seafood Co. was offering two such species at the convention. The beautifully stripped parrot or Hawaiian reef fish is growing in popularity as customers, both restaurants and consumers, look for something different, according to Doug La Pierre of American. The Los Angeles-based company is also carrying the sinister looking sheepshead, a fish popular with sport fishermen that’s found off the California coast. “The parrot fish is not a highly commercial item, but that’s because people don’t know about it,” said La Pierre. “In any case, it’s fun to look at.”

Not just new food products were unveiled at Sea Fare, there was also the latest in seafood processing equipment. One such device is the power-operated oyster opener. Still in its infancy, the invention hopes to revolutionize shucking, which is done by hand throughout the world. Blue Point Oyster Co., of Los Angeles, carries the machine which is basically a protruding, cone-shaped screw driven by an encased motor. Modern-day shuckers need only hold the tight lipped oyster to the screw and let the point gradually drill into the shell. Once the oyster pops open, the operator simply runs a knife along the shell’s edges to remove any attached meat.

“The world’s first electric oyster opener allows a novice, without any previous skill or experience, to open great number of oysters without fatigue,” said Jim Harris, president of Blue Point. As a testament to the contraption’s effectiveness, Harris said that at a recent banquet an employee without any prior shucking experience opened 2,500 oysters during the course of the evening.

“It would have been more,” Harris said, “but the opener’s battery died.”

Please see related story on Sea Fare ’88 on Page 1.