Abalone Sampling - Wild Green Lip and Black Lip from Australia, Wild Blue Lip from Mexico, and varieties from New Zealand and South Africa

What's the difference between abalone from Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa? How do blue lip, green lip and black lip abalone differ?

At a potluck function, someone brought this very interesting platter of various subspecies of abalone for us to sample. As you can see, they ranged in colour from pale, to reddish to greenish.

From the top clockwise, they are: wild green lip abalone from Australia, New Zealand abalone (not sure what variety though), wild blue lip from Mexico, South Africa wild abalone and wild black lip abalone from Australia.

I preferred the Mexico and New Zealand varieties the most. I later found out that Mexican abalone tends to be priciest, followed by New Zealand and Australia. so I can see why. Both these varieties tasted the most savoury out of the rest, and were the softest... almost jelly-like in texture. Between these two, the Mexico one was tastier with a more rounded and umami taste, but the New Zealand one softer.

The South Africa one was the firmest and had a more mellow taste. 

The remaining two from Australia were somewhere in between with respect to their texture, and had a lighter taste, if that makes sense. Their abalone also tends to be priced in the upper range, trailing Mexico.

It's also interesting to note that both the Australian ones seemed to have a relatively similar tone and shade, and also similar taste and texture characteristics... so the origin of the abalone does seem to make a difference.

In short: The geography seems to matter the most, followed by the variety.

• If you prefer softness and want a stronger taste, go for Mexico's abalone. (Also the most pricey.)
• If you prefer softer abalone with moderate taste, go for New Zealand's. 
• If you prefer a lighter taste but don't mind a moderate texture, Australia's abalone seems better.
• If you like firmer abalone and more mellow taste, South African abalone seems to be the better bet, especially since it is also likely to cost less.

In general, wild abalones also seem more expensive than the farmed ones, so I guess I had one of the most premium ones.

Discover other food comparisons

• Oyster Sampling at Legal Seafoods - Wianno, East Beach Blonde, Naked Cowboy and Little Shemogue varieties of live shucked oysters
• Gourmet Tomato Sampling (Japanese-Grown Varieties) - Amela, Rubins, Bijin, Rosso Napolitan and more
• What is a dry beer, sake or drink? Asahi Super Dry Beer compared with non-dry beer and sake, and dry sake