What is Arctic Char?

Many of you have fallen in love with this special fish from Canada’s north, so we thought we’d tell you a bit more about them!

Arctic char tastes much sweeter than its cousin the trout. It’s more mild and light, which wins over those who don’t prefer the stronger taste of other fish. 

Char thrive in very cold water. In the wild, they live farther north than any other freshwater fish. 

That means we can only raise them at two of our sites — those that have a steady supply of spring water that never gets above 10C. 

And fun fact, our family only started growing them as a fun experiment. Never did we realize that they’d become such a hit.. today they’re our second most popular fish (behind trout)! 

We started because our friends at Icy Waters Arctic Charr gave us some eggs to try. Then luckily our friends at the Ontario Aquaculture Research Centre have kept a breeding program going, so we grew some of theirs too (like the one in the photo!)

The Springhills family has had such fun learning their quirks…

 They love their friends. They’re more calm when there are more of them in the tank (compared to trout). And they tend to stick in groups.
 They come in every colour of the rainbow. In the batch we harvested this week, some were indigo, others were yellow, pink, green, and orange!
 They love to hunt. They don’t always come to the surface to eat, but would rather forage in the corners and along the bottom!

Another fun fact, the brook trout (sometimes called speckled trout) that grow in Ontario aren’t actually trout at all, they’re a type of char!

All of our Arctic char are Ocean Wise Recommended and from our Best Aquaculture Practices certified facilities, so they’re a great choice for the planet too!