MILKFISH

    Milkfish (Chanos Chanos) is a popular food fish in Southeast Asia. This fish is the only extant species in the tribe Chanidae. They live in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and tend to be clustered around the shores and islands with coral reefs. Fish that newly hatched young and living at sea for 2-3 weeks, then move to the mangrove swamps brackish water, and sometimes salty lakes. The new milkfish back into the sea if already mature and can reproduce. Milkfish favored as a food because it tastes savory, meat flavor neutral (not as salty as sea trout) and not easily destroyed when cooked. From the price, milkfish including fish upper middle class. Milkfish weakness is twofold: meat 'spines' and sometimes smell 'mud' / 'land'. 

    Spines are actually bone. These spines interfere with the enjoyment in eating meat. This can be overcome by the use of pressure cooker (presto or autoclaving) within a certain time, so that it becomes soft spines and can be destroyed if chewed. The smell of mud on a lot of experience on milkfish which taken from the pond. Milkfish reared in cages rarely smelled. The cause of the symptoms of the smell of mud are some Cyanobacteria, particularly from the genus Oscillatoria, Symloca, and Lyngbia, which produces geosmin. If the fish living in the rich geosmin or eating plankton, the meat will taste the soil. The smell of the mud can be overcome at least two ways. The first way is to keep the fish for 7-14 days in the water to flow freely biosmin before sale. The second way is by treatment with certain acid.

    Some benefit of milkfish is 3 ounces of cooked milkfish contains 162 calories, 22.4 g protein, 7.3 g fat, 2.9 g saturated fat, 78 mg sodium and 57 mg of cholesterol. Milkfish provide 116% of vitamin B, namely 12, 44% of niacin, 24% vitamin B6, and 15 percent of pantothenic acid, riboflavin, folic acid, and vitamin A. The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine recommends for adults to frequently consume them. 3 ounce of milkfish provides 25% of phosphorus and selenium, also contains other minerals are calcium, iron, kalium and zinc. Phosphorus is an essential mineral that is an integral part of oxygenation of red blood cells, while selenium is essential for the thyroid gland and immune function. Milkfish contains 9% of the total fat, Although milkfish contain more fat but that is 60% of it is monounsaturated fat which is healthy for the heart, including omega-3 fatty acids.