Have you ever spent a pleasant autumn day out on the water fishing, enjoying the colours that come with the changing of the seasons, watched as a flock of geese honked their way across the sky, basked in the warmth of the sun, caught and released a few really nice fish and then looked forward to frying one up for dinner?
I’m not big on eating trout. I prefer halibut or walleye (or salmon, even though I don’t fish for them very often because of their declining numbers), but I have been known to cook up a few trout for dinner, especially when I’m up at the cabin.
I usually start with brown rice mixed with a little wild rice to give it that slightly nutty flavour, a bit of sliced oyster mushrooms fried up in butter with a dash of ginger and some chopped up kale that has been reduced in a wok with lemon oil. Place the trout (that has been poached first and then seared in a frying pan to give it a slight crust) on a bed of the rice, add to the plate some spring greens with a cranberry jalapeno dressing and you’ve got a simple to prepare, wonderful tasting meal – unless the trout happens to have that distasteful muddy flavour you sometimes get with them.
The muddy taste in trout is caused by a chemical compound called geosmin. The two primary producers of geosmin in freshwater lakes are the blue-green algae you see on the surface of some lakes, and actinomyus bacteria which causes decomposition of organic material on the lake bottom.
Algae and actinomyus bacteria release geosmin into the water (it is actually released when the living algae and bacteria die) which trout breathe in through their gills and then transfer, through the bloodstream, into their skin, flesh and muscle tissue.
Although fish can still taste muddy in the fall, it is more of a problem during the hot summer months when algae is in full bloom. The problem diminishes as water temperatures cool down and is less likely to occur in lakes which are relatively deep and low in organic matter.
Geosmin is only eliminated over time, once the algae bloom clears and/or decomposition slows. The rate of elimination is dependant on water temperature and the fat content of the fish, which is species and age/size specific.
Ironically, both algae and decomposition increases in warmer water, while it takes longer for a fish to eliminate geosmin compounds from their system in cooler water (due to metabolism rates).
It can be hard to predict which lakes will have muddy tasting fish. Two lakes of similar depth, with the same type of algae bloom, may not produce similar tasting fish. Sometimes it’s just a matter of what micro-habitat a fish frequents when eating.
If you do keep a fish that you suspect is going to taste muddy, you can usually distinguish a slight muddy smell to it when you’re cleaning it. You can try soaking your fish in vinegar to help remove the muddy taste – geosmin breaks down in acid. But I’ve never really found vinegar all that successful.
There are all sorts of so-called remedies for muddy tasting fish but, like I say, I’ve never found one that works. Once I know the muddy taste is there I can always taste it – regardless of how it is prepared, how much spice might be used or what kind of sauce it covered with.
The best way to get rid of the muddy taste in trout is to practice catch and release. Simply return the fish back into the water and figure out something else to have for dinner.
