Salmon is always praised for how healthy it is. Well this non-fish eater decided to give it a shot. But I got stumped at the fish counter — wild vs. farmed. Is one better than the other? Image courtesy of voraorm and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Ever wonder what the nutritional differences are between farmed and wild salmon? I never did until I decided to try grilling and eating salmon last week.

As you know I’m just starting to like fish, but I’ve pretty much stuck to white fishes — cod, tilapia, trout, red snapper, mahimahi.  I’ve stayed away from the dark (red) fish like salmon. For someone just starting to eat fish, the darker fish flavor is too intense or outright fishy to me.

Last week I decided to give salmon a try. I went to pick up some filets, but I got stumped at the grocery store. Farmed vs. wild salmon? There was a huge difference in price ($22.99/lbs wild vs. $5.99 farmed) and color (deep orange-red wild vs. light pink farmed), but what about nutritionally?

So I picked up a wild salmon filet for the hubby and rockfish for me. I needed to do some research. If I’m going to give salmon a fair shake, I need to know the best choice.

Wild Vs. Farmed
Turns out, there are some differences.

Source: Authority Nutrition

What jumps out: farmed salmon has way more calories, fats, omega-6 and Vitamin C, but less minerals than its wild counterpart.  Thankfully Authority Nutrition has a great breakdown of what this all means.

It looks like wild salmon is a little better than farmed, but both are very healthy. So I can’t go wrong either way.

Hmmm…at $5.99/lbs, looks like farmed salmon is on the menu for tomorrow night.