The Ultimate Cold Water Surimi Explainer: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Every year, the seafood industry continues to improve, offering foodies new and interesting options such as cold water surimi, a processed seafood product. For the past few decades, processed cold water surimi has been an important part of the surimi industry. 

However, you may not know everything about cold water surimi. This article will help you explore more about cold water surimi. Starting from places where you can find cold water surimi, its advantages and disadvantages.

Let’s find out more!

What is Cold Water Surimi?

Surimi is the term for seafood products made from fish protein through various processes. Then, what is cold water surimi? Is it something new?

You may be familiar with surimi products, but it turns out that there are multiple types of surimi: tropical surimi, such as threadfin bream and lizardfish in Southeast Asia, and cold water surimi, derived from cold water species such as hoki and Southern blue whiting in the South Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans.

In addition to that, the process for making cold water surimi includes washing fish flesh in water at or below 5°C to make fish paste, which is then processed further. This technique removes sarcoplasmic proteins, blood, fat, and other nitrogen content from fish flesh, resulting in surimi with a neutral smell, taste, and color and good gel strength. 

Cold water surimi not only improves the taste of food by using these techniques, but it also supports environmental responsibility by making better use of fishing resources.

Where Can I Find Cold Water Surimi?

These are the lists of places where you can find cold water surimi in certain regions of the world.

• United States (Alaska)

Alaska pollock, mostly found in the United States, particularly Alaska, is one of the cold water surimi. The United States began the Alaska pollock surimi industry in 1976, despite significant challenges at the beginning. However, surimi currently has a large market trend, with the United States being a major producer of frozen surimi, especially Alaska pollock. 

Companies such as Seapack, American Seafoods, and Aker Seafoods are active in the commercial production of frozen surimi in Alaska, using cold-water white surimi fish produced in Alaska. Delicious Surimi-based foods, such as piles of crabs, fishballs, and other seafood products, often use cold water surimi as the main material.

• Japan (Hokkaido)

Chikuwa, prepared from Alaskan pollock surimi, is a popular frozen dish in Aomori Prefecture. During 1945–1950, Alaskan pollock was the largest catch in Japan. However, the main product is tarako (salted pollock roe).

Together with the United States, Japan is a major producer and consumer of surimi. In 1960, Japanese scientists found that cryoprotectants could maintain the protein functions of frozen, washed fish mince. This contributed to the start of pollock fishing for surimi.

• Russia 

Japanese crabsticks produced from surimi in the 1970s were a big part of the spread of the surimi industry to the US, Europe, and Russia. In Russia, there are various surimi manufacturing companies that produce cold water surimi products that you can find.

Sortavala Fish (St. Petersburg) is one of the companies that produced surimi from frozen NBW in 2003, as well as crabsticks. You can also find another cold water surimi producer only 2 kilometers from Mosko on Kashirskoye Highway, named Albatros Seafood Production, that has been producing since 2003 until now.

Top Consumers of Cold Water Surimi

Countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East can be considered the biggest buyers of cold water surimi. The mild cold water flavor of surimi, its delicate texture, and its versatility in various types of food have contributed to its increasing popularity among consumers. Europe has become the second-largest market for surimi after Asia-Pacific, particularly China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, which are significant surimi consumers. 

Seafood's widespread use in local cuisine is expected to contribute to the region's continued status as a major market for surimi. Every year, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam send Singapore 13,500 MT of surimi. One more factor influencing surimi is the large variety of frozen surimi-based products found in supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cold Water Surimi

Cold water surimi has various advantages and disadvantages behind its great taste and popularity. This will help you understand more about what you can expect and get from a cold water surimi.

Advantages

• Better Color

One advantage of cold water surimi is that it has a great color. Cold water surimi, which often comes from fish species such as Alaskan pollock and Atlantic cod, is known for its high level of quality. In addition to improved gelation, the procedure of adding alkali creates surimi with better color, less fat, and a better taste than the usual process.

• Higher Quality

Because cold water species goes through a long process using advanced technology, cold water surimi products are the best choice for consumers and manufacturers because they are easy to store, last longer, and are easy to buy in stores. Fast freezing is important to maintain quality during long-term storage, as it produces fewer ice crystals than larger ones. 

Otherwise, freezing can result in wet and brittle items. A low change in storage temperature also helps in this situation.

• Ability to Adapt to Different Types of Food

People who want to try new foods at home can easily do so with processed cold water surimi. Besides, cold water surimi is easy to find in supermarkets and tastes well in any cuisine. Any dish can use cold water surimi, including crab salad, oden, and fish ball noodle soup.

Disadvantages

• Sensitive To Temperature Changes

The first disadvantage you must know while diving in cold water Surimi is sensitive to temperature. Improper storage conditions may have a negative impact on the texture and quality of cold water surimi.

What you can do to deal with this fact is to make sure that you keep your cold water supply at low temperatures. This aims to make cold water surimi stay fresh and safe.

Cold water Surimi produces directly on site with its production line implemented directly in the fishing boat. This is so that the fish is still fresh and minimizes any degradation due to temperature change.

• Bacteria Contamination

Compared to tropical surimi, cold-water surimi is very easy to get contaminated with bacteria. If you do not look after cold water surimi in the right way, you will find your cold water surimi contaminated by microbial growth and spoilage.

It is important for you to keep in mind that the drying process frequently results in cold water surimi protein loss. In this case, you need to prepare a proper process for cold water surimi production and storage to minimize this loss.

• Changes in Taste and Aroma

The taste and smell of cold water surimi really depend on how it is washed and stored. Again, if you did it not in a proper way, it will be hard to produce a good-quality cold water surimi product.

Cold water surimi's water content could inhibit its ability to combine its water and form a gel, resulting in a low quality of taste and aroma. This is why it is important for cold water surimi producers to keep it at low temperatures so that the cold water surimi will not lose its protein. 

The Environmental Impact and Sustainability of Cold Water Surimi

One of the issues that the cold water surimi industry has been concerned about is how the production will impact the environment. The process of making cold water surimi, which uses advanced technology and cold water species like Alaska pollock, can be good for the environment in certain ways. Pollock usually has a high reproduction rate and a population that can handle changes well, so this choice can help secure long-term fishing methods.

Sustainability also relies on good fisheries management and close monitoring. If you are interested in producing cold water surimi, you need to remember that the amount of energy used, its storage, and the drying process all impact the sustainability and environmental impact of cold water surimi production. Every seafood industry needs to make sure that the production methods and machines used will not cause harm to the marine ecosystems as the market for cold-water surimi grows.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Cold Water Surimi

• What criteria determine the quality of fish suitable for cold water surimi processing?

Fish should have white flesh, be low-fat, and be fresh to make a good cold water surimi. In general, white meat fish can create more gel than red meat fish.

• How long can cold water surimi be stored in the freezer?

Cold water surimi can keep fresh for up to two years if stored in a professional freezer (below 0°F). Since most people's home freezers are not particularly cold, it is recommended that the shelf life of surimi in home freezers can only last for approximately one year.