How the Ardshealach Smoked Salmon is made:

 

We would like to take you on the journey of the salmon, through Ardshealach Smokehouse, from sea to plate. Our salmon originates in the cold Atlantic waters of the West Coast of Scotland. Once it has been hand filleted the fish is dry cured using kosher sea salt, after curing we wash and hang the fish, often late at night.

Everything in the process is time dependent. The dried salmon is then slowly smoked over wood-chips made from old whisky barrels; this gentle, maturing process allows the unhurried development of unique natural flavours.Timing varies throughout the seasons. Experience has taught us that the size of the fish, temperature and humidity all have an effect and it takes our craftsmanship to get it right.

We use traditional, artisan skills throughout; all our smoked salmon are hand trimmed, pin-boned and sliced…yes, we really do slice every fish by hand! No slicing machinery in our smokehouse! And every slice is then interleaved by hand. We know it is a very unusual, labour intensive approach but we believe the end result justifies this, the care we take means Ardshealach Smoked  Salmon has the best flavour and is in the best condition possible when it reaches you.

The last stage of the process is when we pack our smoked salmon, the last quality control check, it is then vacuum packed for freshness.It takes around 120 hours to transform sea fresh salmon into the delicious product that we are renowned for at Ardshealach Smokehouse, we think you will agree this is quite a journey!