Canned tuna is a pantry staple for good reason: It's a shelf-stable protein that pleases a lot of eaters. Not all tuna is created equal, however. Just as success when buying fresh tuna comes down to the variety of tuna on offer, the type of canned tuna you pick matters.
Albacore, often sold as "white tuna," is a crowd-pleasing option. It's light, fleshy, and mild, with nice saltiness and a "clean" taste that provides a neutral palette for building flavor. On the other hand, skipjack, another tuna variety, has a deep fishiness that can be unpleasant if you aren't the biggest fan of seafood to start with.
In the wild, skipjack tuna gravitate towards warm ocean water. They're considered a sustainable species, so you can feel good about picking this variety. You'll see skipjack on the shelf as "light tuna.
" In reality, though, skipjack has darker flesh than albacore, or other popular tunas like yellowfin or bonito. Its fishiness has been compared to a strong, lingering metallic taste. Some people hate this — a lot of people, in fact.
Detesting "fishiness" is a widespread phenomenon, although scientists disagree on where it originates from. If you're in that category, you might want to skip skipjack. You can take steps to mitigate the fishiness If you're turned off by skipjack's fishiness, that doesn't have to mean writing it off forever.
There are countless ways to upgrade canned tuna , and most of them mask its briniest flavors. Mixing the fish into a nice tuna salad or casser.