As a seawater fish, the tuna comes in many
varieties of meat which can range from light to dark color meat. It is
different from other fish which mostly have white meat; tuna dark meat comes from its muscle tissue which also ranges in
color from light pink color that almost looked white to dark red color.
What is Tuna Dark Meat Difference with
White Tuna?
Usually tuna meat is canned and you can
find two main variations of canned tuna in the market which different in both
quality and taste. The first variation is white tuna which is made from
albacore tuna. The albacore tuna has meat that is almost completely consist of
white color with hint of light pink color, which is why this type of tuna is
most suitable to be canned. The second variation is light tuna which is made
from many kinds of tuna such as yellowfin or skipjack. Both of those fishes
have tuna dark meat, because the meat color
is darker which is varied from light tan toward dark red color.
When canned, while tuna will be soak using
oil while the light tuna will be soak using water. This is what makes the two
variations of canned tuna in the market is different. Because light tuna is
soak using water, then it is considered to be healthier variation of the two.
From the flavor, white tuna is lighter with mild fishy flavor which similar to
chicken breast and the texture is firm. On the other hand light tuna which consist
of dark meat has more flavorful, but do not be afraid since the texture is soft
which is similar to chicken thigh. However in regards of taste, many preferred
white tuna offer tuna dark meat because they
do not like the strong flavor that the dark meat has.
The pink or red color in tuna which also
called as tuna dark meat is actually muscle
which is very rich in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Hemogoblin itself is a type of
protein or pigment in the red blood cell with function to carries oxygen from
lungs to the muscle and tissue as well as carries back the carbon dioxide from
the muscle and tissue back to the lungs. While the myoglobin itself is a type
of protein or pigment in the muscle with functions to carry the oxygen and
usually used by heart and muscle in the process of physical exertion. This
pigment is the same pigment that contains iron which also the one that creates
red color in red meat.
The muscle tissue that has dark red color
means they also have more capillaries with higher hemoglobin content. Fish that
lives in the ocean like tuna will be very active and use their muscle to swim
continuously. However those muscle tissues that have dark red color only make
up around twenty percent of the total muscle tissue in tuna. The market quality
of a tuna, it is determined by a lot of factor and one being the muscle color.
The highest grade of tuna quality has dark and clear bright red color meat with
firm texture and has no fat. While the lowest grade of tuna quality has light
and brown color meat with soft texture.
Intensity of tuna
dark meat color will depend on the
amount of hemoglobin and myoglobin contained inside the meat muscle. The darker
the tuna meat is, meaning they have more hemoglobin and myoglobin inside while
the lighter the tuna meat is, meaning they have less hemoglobin and myoglobin
inside.
From the nutritional view, the white tuna
has higher calories and fat which is why it also contains more Omega 3 fatty
acids compared to light tuna with dark meat. However, you should be aware that
all fish that comes from the sea will contain mercury including tuna. As we
know mercury is considered dangerous for human. When seen from the mercury
level contained inside the meat, it is known that light tuna is safer compared
to white tuna because it contained less mercury than white tuna. In fact white
tuna is known to contain three times more mercury compared to light tuna. Generally,
both white tuna and tuna dark meat
has similar properties so it will depend on your preference which one that you
like the most.
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