88 U. 8. BUREAU OF FISHERTES 
cooked fish tend to stick together, they are placed so as not to touch 
each other. The flakes are next placed on a truck and wheeled into 
a retort or steam chest and cooked with steam under slight pressure 
for 15 to 30 minutes. They are then removed and allowed to stand 
and cool, after which they are packed. 
At times the dried fish are packed raw into cans, which are inverted 
on wire flakes and steamed. 
Brine cooking.—This process is the same as frying in oil, except 
that the fish are cooked in hot brine and not brined before being 
dried. A saturated solution of common salt boils at 227°. This 
aie a cooking temperature close to that ordinarily used for frying 
in oil. 
Raw-packing.—In this process the fish are brined, or brined and 
dried, then packed raw into the cans with sauce, exhausted, sealed, 
and processed. Results have been so unsatisfactory, commercially, 
that few fish now canned are prepared in this way. 
MAINE METHODS 
Only an outline is given here of the methods that have been and 
are now being used in Maine. There are a number of papers’ that 
give a history of the industry and describe the methods used in the 
past. Present methods are described in detail by Weber (see foot- 
note, p. 72). 
The fish used is the sea herring (Clupea harengus). The supply 
for canning for the most part comes from weirs on the coasts of Canada 
and Maine. The fish are transported to the canneries in water-tight 
tanks or wells aboard the fishing boats. When placed in tanks at 
the weirs the fish are mixed with salt or brine, the amount being varied 
according to the size of the fish and the time it will take for the boat 
to reach the cannery. Ordinarily about 200 to 500 pounds of salt 
to a hogshead (about 1,200 pounds) of fish is used. This salt brines 
the fish and also aids in keeping them in good condition. At the 
factory the fish are weighed or measured and flumed to storage tanks, 
where they may or may not be brined further. 
From the tanks the fish are flumed to a conveyer, which carries 
them to a mechanical flaking machine. This machine spreads the 
fish quite evenly upon wire flakes. The flakes are placed in trucks 
and run into a steam chest, into which steam at a pressure of 80 to 100 
pounds is turned for 8 to 15 minutes. The chests are not tight but 
are so constructed as to permit considerable escape of steam. The 
trucks of fish then go to a large drying room, where they are subjected 
to the action of warm air. Time, temperature, and air velocity vary 
greatly in different factories. Usually the time is about 60 minutes. 
The temperature ordinarily used is about 100° to 120°, and the veloc- 
ity about 300 to 1,000 feet per minute. After drying, the trucks stand 
until cool. The flakes of fish are then given to the packers. 
15 “The Sardine Industry.”” By R. Edward Earll. The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United 
States, Sec. V, Vol. I (1887), pp. 489-524.. Washington. ‘‘The American Sardine Industry in 1886.”? By 
R. Edward Earlland Hugh M. Smith. Bulletin, U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. VII, 1887 (1889), pp. 161- 
192. Washington. ‘‘The Herring Industry of the Passamaquoddy Region, Maine.’”? By Ansley Hall. 
Report, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1896 (1898), pp. 475-479. Washington. ‘‘The Preser- 
vation of Fishery Products for Food.’”’ By Charles H. Stevenson. Bulletin, U. S. Fish Commission, 
Vol. XVIII, 1898 (1899), pp. 335-563 [sardines, pp. 526-537]. Washington. ‘‘The Packing of American 
Sardines.”” By H. H. Hansen. Original communications, Eighth International Congress of Applied 
Chemistry, vol. 18, pp. 131-138. Washington, 1912. 
