Stockfish
Very Rich In Protein That It Should Be In Most Dishes

Any fish can be "stocked", but only a few types of fishes are now used in making stock fish. They include Cod fish (most widely used), Tusk fish, Haddock, Pollock or Saithe and Ling fishes.

Fish preserved this way are extremely nutritious, and truly healthy. Unlike fresh fish cod that is made up of 80% water for example, cod stockfish is made up of only about 14% water, and 80 percent protein. You can easily see why it is said that 1 kg of stock fish is equivalent to 5kg of fresh fish.

They are also rich in essential ingredients like vitamin B12, niacin, Thiamine, which helps to maintain our nerves and ensure normal growth, phosphorous needed for the effective utilization of calories, iodine to help keep our thyroid gland health and ensure normal metabolism, and plenty of calcium for strong bones and teeth.

Stock fish also has the added advantage of being unsalted, this you do not run the risk of consuming too much salt than what is acceptable. This should of particular interest to people of African and Caribbean descent. Their kidney lack the genetic ability to filter salt properly from the body, unlike their Caucasian counterparts.

That is partly why Africans and blacks in general tend to have more kidney problems. They should therefore as much as possible drastically reduce their salt intake. Eating stock fish helps to provide a healthy alternative to salted fish (eating too much salt in one's meal leads to high blood pressure and kidney problems).

Another advantage of stockfish is that it is not smoked. Eating smoked fish is the leading cause of stomach cancer worldwide, and especially in countries like China and japan, where smoked fish is very common (worried if this is correct? Type in "smoked fish + cancer" on Google Search and see for yourself the result!).

You can substitute stockfish in place of smoked fish on your diet for a healthier you.

Stockfish In The African Diet

Called Okporoko by the Igbos of Nigeria and kpanla or panla by the Yorubas of Southern Nigeria it is a highly favoured delicacy in Ogbono, palm nut fruit (banga) and Egusi soups as well as in efo riro. It is also used in afang soup, and indeed most other soups like edikaikong.

It is a prestigious and highly regarded gift to include in a visit to in-laws!

With the advent of snack stock fish as well as stock fish chippings, it can easily be included in jollof rice and salads meals.

Where to Buy Stock Fish

We also stock stock fish from Iceland.

You can order these from as small as a 200g Stock fish pieces to a whole 1kg measure. We can also supply bales to anywhere in the UK or EU. Please contact us.

If you want this fish delivered to you any where in the the world (orders no more than 1kg for outside the UK, unless you are ordering a bale on wholesale), you can go to our sister website, Afrocarib.co.uk and order your stockfish.

How to Cook Stock Fish

Traditionally, stockfish is cooked by first hitting the fish several times with a hard object or hammer, then soaked in water for at least 12 hours before being boiled and then added to a dish.

If you buy the whole fish, you might still need to soak it over night for softness, and then boil. You can remove the skin. This helps to emphasize the fleshy part of the fish. Selecting a big chunky fish during purchase also means you get a very "meaty" fish. Cod fish is most preferred.

Thankfully, there now exist stockfish fillets, shavings and snack fish, all you can put straight into your dish without needing to soak in water overnight or preparing in any way.

For the various types of this fish preparation available, please go to www.afrocarib.co.uk

Should you have any comments or questions on stockfish, please do not hesitate to contact us.