112 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



components and their flavours have time to commingle and mature 

 into the single delicate flavour known to consumers: a newly 

 made can of good material is edible but not desirable since the 

 various flavours are separately distinguishable and crude. No 

 French canner of repute sells his goods under some months or a 

 yean ' Plain sardines ' however are at their best at once, 



166. The season for sardines in good condition is short on the 

 West Coast, usually from August to February ; after February they 

 are apt to be lean, out of condition, and small. They are still 

 cannable, but are not first class goods, and require more oil than in 

 the proper season. During the monsoon, from 1st June to the end 

 of August, sardine canning is practically at a standstill. 



167, Mackerel. — This fish is not a favourite for canning in Wes- 

 tern countries partly because it is too large to be canned whole, 

 partly because it is a fish which rapidly taints, so much so that it 

 is, or was, called the ' Sunday Fish ' (piscis dominicalis) because 

 by old English law it was, on account of its tendency to taint, the 

 only fish allowed to be sold on Sunday. On the Madras Presi- 

 dency coasts, however, this fish appears — irregularly — in vast shoals 

 inshore, and is but a small fish ordinarily of 3 or 4 oz. ; hence as 

 regards size it can be readily canned. As a matter of fact 

 however, though sardines were for many years canned by a 

 French canner at Mahe, no attempt was made to can mackerel 

 (prawns, oysters, etc.) until the Government Canneries at Calicut 

 and Beypore successfully experimented in 1912 and 1913, since 

 which time this fish has been regularly canned and is deemed by 

 the public at least to equal any other canned fish, and no stock 

 can be kept in hand when the public are aware that these fish are 

 available. But it is still a tricky fish to handle and the canner 

 must be most careful in his selection of fresh fish ; for some 

 unknown reason these fish, even if processed at 240° F., are apt to 

 spoil in the cans. So long, however, as cans retain the ordinary 

 characteristics (concavity, etc.), of sound cans and the fish are firm 

 and clean, there is no more risk than with sardines. Pressure 

 processing is however desirable if not necessary, with mackerel ; it 

 is better to process fish in general, except perhaps sardines in oil, 

 well above boiling point (212'^ F,). Mackerel are treated very much 

 as sardines up to the drying operation inclusive, but being larger 

 and more apt to taint, the brining should be longer, especially as 

 these fish are usually canned plain, just like ' fresh herring ' which 



