Smoked Seafood from Ducktrap River of Maine

Full of vitamins, minerals, and essential omega-3 fatty acids, seafood is a great source of protein! Many people enjoy including seafood in their diet, but it’s important to be aware of where your seafood comes from. How your seafood is farmed or caught can affect its nutritional value and, for that matter, can have an impact on the environment. Most of us want to know that we’re eating the highest quality, safe seafood, but it’s often difficult to puzzle out the path that your seafood has taken to get to your plate. That’s why we’re dedicated to bringing you top-quality seafood and why we’ve decided to partner with Ducktrap River of Maine, purveyor of some of the finest smoked seafood on the market.

Located in Belfast, Maine, Ducktrap River of Maine produces high-quality smoked seafood that has won the hearts of seafood lovers around the country and globe. The company unofficially began in 1978 when Des Fitzgerald, the founder of Ducktrap River of Maine, began farming trout in Lincolnville, Maine, a small town about 2 hours up the coast from Portland. For a while, he successfully sold his fish to local businesses in the area including restaurants and chefs, but he often had problems with the local wildlife, like racoons, otters, and owls, and it was cutting into his profits. That’s when he decided to try smoking fish. So, he wrote to the EPA for information on their smoking guidelines and built a smokehouse. Soon, he was selling his smoked fish in the local market and was having much greater success than with his trout! Over the next few years, his business would evolve into the internationally recognized Ducktrap River of Maine.

Interested in learning more? You can read about the history of Ducktrap River of Maine here.

Now, more than 30 years later, Ducktrap River of Maine is still smoking high-quality fish and seafood at their production facility in Maine. Ducktrap starts their smoking process in one of two ways: wet brining or dry brining. Seafood is wet-brined by mixing the brining spices with water and marinating the food in the mixture. Dry brining, on the other hand, is done by dry rubbing the fish with a spice mixture, then letting it sit before smoking.

Once the fish is brined, it’s time to get smokin’! Ducktrap offers both cold and hot smoked seafood, which are two different processes that result in completely different end products! Hot smoking is done by heating the fish in the smoker until it reaches a minimum temperature of 145°F. This type of smoked fish is sometimes referred to as “kippered” or “smoke-roasted,” too. Hot-smoked fish is usually served thicker and is flakier in texture than cold-smoked fish. Cold-smoked fish is made in a smoker where the air temperature is not permitted to exceed 90°F. Cold-smoked fish is similar in texture to raw fish and is usually served thinly sliced. The goal of this technique is not to cook the fish, but, rather, to enhance and preserve the flavor. 

You can read more about Ducktrap River of Maine’s smoking processes here!

Here at Jungle Jim’s, we’re huge fans of Ducktrap River of Maine! That’s why we’re proud to say that we carry their entire line of smoked seafood and, in fact, we’re the only retailer in Ohio to do so. From unique items like smoked scallops and mussels to classic smoked salmon, we’ve got it all! If you are looking to make seafood a regular part of your diet, love everything bagels and lox, or are just curious about trying something new, you’re invited to stop by our Seafood Department to browse our full line of Ducktrap River of Maine!