Market Basket
Rating the freshness of chicken

By Joan Namkoong
Advertiser Food Editor

Roast chicken with lemon and herbs starts at the supermarket counter. Advertiser library photo

I'd have to say locally raised chickens are fresh, brought to you within a day off the chicken farms along the Wai'anae Coast. Pacific Poultry's Ewa Brand chicken is in all supermarkets as whole birds and parts. You'll find them in Chinatown, too, complete with head and feet.

Of course, you will pay more for these chickens, around $2-plus per pound compared to Mainland chickens that may run as low as 79 cents a pound for whole chickens.

Mainland chickens – Foster Farms, Tyson, Zacky and 50th State – are "fresh chilled," or what I call hard chilled: chilled to not lower than 26 degrees, almost frozen but not quite. Think about it: For a chicken to remain fresh and to keep bacteria growth at a minimum during its weeklong journey from a Mainland farm and processing plant to the supermarket meat case, that chicken had better be close to frozen, if not frozen. And of course, you can find rock-solid frozen chicken at the supermarket, too.

Nothing wrong with frozen chicken except this scientific fact: When water freezes, it expands. When water in chicken tissue freezes, it expands, breaking through the walls of the tissue cells. When that chicken is thawed and cooked, moisture and nutrients are released from the chicken, so the cooked product ends up drier.

That's not to say you should never buy fresh-chilled or frozen chicken. Pricewise, they are undoubtedly less expensive than fresh chickens. Organic and/or free-range chickens from the Mainland come no other way.

IQF (individually quick frozen) chicken pieces are a convenient thing to have in the freezer for those last-minute meals. And there's less cell damage when foods are frozen faster.

But fresh is always better, I say. Not only will you have a better-tasting chicken, you'll support our local chicken industry, too.

Remember, too, that chicken, like other meats, tastes better on the bone. Whole chickens have more flavor, and even parts with bones do, too. While we buy boneless and skinless pieces to cut down on fat and preparation time, we're also losing out on flavor.

New chips

Frito Lay has been scooping the chip market with its new Tostitos Scoops! Tortilla Chips, a bite-sized bowl-shaped design chip. The company says these chips will hold an extra heaping teaspoon of salsa, guacamole or dip, and there's less dripping as it goes from bowl to mouth. Look for these chips at supermarkets statewide.

Send shopping queries and new product information to: Market Basket, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. E-mail jnamkoong@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8069 or fax 525-8055.