Ask Tom: Escolar

Oakton reader John Curran noticed the photograph of escolar in my recent Dining Guide (Magazine, October 14) and wanted more information on what's been called the "laxative fish." Escolar -- which also goes by the names white tuna, walu and Hawaiian butterfish, and is a byproduct of the long-line tuna industry -- gets its reputation thanks to its abundance of omega-3, a type of fat found in oil-rich fish. "Some people embrace it," says Joseph Lasprogata, a certified marine biologist and director of purchasing for Samuels & Son Seafood Co. in Philadelphia. Like cod liver oil, he says, escolar "lubricates the highway, as it were." Consumers who want to minimize escolar's potential effects should limit their portion size to no more than six ounces, adds the fish expert.

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