Smoked chum salmon

Smoked chum salmon

　　Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), a type of salmon, is renowned worldwide for its delicious flesh and rich nutritional value, and has long been considered a premium fish. The Heilongjiang River basin in China is abundant in chum salmon and is known as the "Home of Chum Salmon."

　　The chum salmon has an elongated, laterally compressed body with a protruding snout shaped like a bird’s beak. It has a large mouth with sharp teeth inside, making it a fierce carnivorous fish. It is born in rivers, grows up in the sea, and mainly inhabits the oceans of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in areas such as the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. After living in the ocean for four years, when they reach sexual maturity in August and September each year, they migrate in schools from the open sea to coastal waters and then enter rivers, traveling thousands of miles upstream to return to their birthplace — the Heilongjiang River.

　　Chum salmon, historically known as dafahayu, can weigh over 13 jin (about 6.5 kg). Its flesh is light red, thick, and low in bones, and is extremely nutritious. When eaten fresh, it can be prepared as fish slices, fish fillets, fish balls, or braised fish chunks. It can also be salted or smoked, offering a distinctive flavor. Packaged chum salmon is available at Harbin's Qiulin Company and major supermarkets, typically sold in boxes for several dozen yuan each.