Seafood and gemstone appreciation

[khiemtran]

Two things it would be good to be able to judge by sight are fish and jewelry.

It would be good, for example, the next time I'm in a fish market, to be able to join in as the other customers inspect the fish, eyeing each one carefully, examining the eyes, the gills and the belly, ruminating with the experience of the wise, nodding thoughtfully, and coming away with a conclusion other than "Yes, this is a fish".

Likewise, the next time I'm offered gemstones by a mysterious trader in a faraway marketplace, it would be nice to be able to eye them over and feign half-interest as I silently calculate my profits back home. Or to smile at his attempts to trick me like a tourist.

"But these are just worthless!" I say, with a laugh.

"Ah," says the trader. "But, sir, you don't know the story behind these gems..."

Comments

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Gemstones, I think, require some equipment for judging -- especially with the very good synthetic ones that can be made now.

Fish though, is not so difficult. And you already seem to know what to look at -- you only skipped "smell" in my checklist :-) So why do you think you can't judge?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Smell, I understand. If it smells like a fish, don't buy it. But I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for with the other things. Any advice?

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I've bought fish but... the basic principle is that the fish should be ideally alive :-) So what you're looking for is a fish that looks like it hasn't been dead that long. Eye should be clear and not cloudy; gills should have blood in them. The body should be firm: belly is the softest part, so it's the one that's checked. Also, for some types of fish you can check the belly to find roe (herring roe is the only one I'm familiar with and it's delicious, fresh or smoked) -- if there is roe, you can feel it through the belly (and often you can see it).

In the fish markets in Sicily, they bend the fish into a U-shape before putting them on display to demonstrate their freshness. If the fish is *very* fresh, it will keep the shape; otherwise it will be too limp to keep it and will revert to flat. I haven't seen this elsewhere though -- but it's another application of the principle of "firm flesh".

After being a vegetarian for more than 15 years, the smell of a butcher shop makes me slightly sick. The smell of a (good) fish shop, on the other hand, makes me hungry... :-)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll try it out next time.

In the fish markets in Sicily, they bend the fish into a U-shape before putting them on display to demonstrate their freshness. If the fish is *very* fresh, it will keep the shape; otherwise it will be too limp to keep it and will revert to flat. I haven't seen this elsewhere though -- but it's another application of the principle of "firm flesh".

Ah, yes. They do that in Queensland too. With the bananas. :)