CHAPTER XI 



The Preservation of Fish 



NO one knows when man first learned to pre- 

 serve his surplus of fish on the day of plenty 

 for his future needs, for the earliest records 

 indicate that he was already versed in the arts of 

 preserving food by freezing, drying, smoking, and 

 salting. The prehistoric savage used crude methods 

 such as the smoking and drying of small fish strung 

 on sticks over an open fire. Some of these simple 

 methods are still in use to-day, the only changes 

 being adaptations which permit the preservation of 

 large quantities of fish with a minimum of labor. 



The only method of preserving fish which has been 

 invented during the past century is that of canning. 

 This art, that of the preservation of a food product, 

 sterilized by heat, in a hermetically sealed container, 

 is a modern invention discovered in 1810 by Nickolas 

 Appert. His researches, which lasted fifteen years, 

 were encouraged by the French government, which 

 offered a reward for the discovery of an improved 

 method of preserving foods. This prize was offered 

 in the hope of finding a method of preservation 

 which would reduce the loss of foods through spoil- 

 age in military and naval stores. 



Canning is the most important method of preser- 

 vation of fish employed in the United States, but 



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