CANNING SARDINES 93 
which must, of course, be included, have been placed in the Appendix 
for ready reference by the few who will also want to consider them. 
GENERAL SUMMARY 
Following is a summary of the experimental work reported upon 
in this document and of the results obtained: 
1. The nature of the change in composition and properties of oil 
used for frying sardines was determined. 
2. These changes are largely due to the presence of varying quan- 
tities of fish oil and to the action of air and heat upon the oil in the 
cooking vat. 
3. Fry-bath oil gets into the final pack, lowering quality, especially 
when the oil has seen much use. 
4, Ways are shown to diminish frying costs and the bad effects 
from frying in oil. 
5. Attempts to reclaim used fry-bath oil by mechanical and chem- 
ical treatment were unsuccessful. It is improbable that a satisfactory 
cheap method will be developed. 
6. Although further improvement in the frying procedure probably 
ean be made, certain difficulties will continue to be troublesome. For 
this reason attention was turned to the study of substitute methods of 
preparing the fish instead of continuing work on frying in oil. 
7. The following substitute methods were studied and procedures 
developed and compared with frying in oil: (a) Brine cooking, 
(b) steaming, and (c) raw packing. 
8. Packs prepared by the various processes withstood extended 
storing and shipping tests about equally well. 
9. All the processes produced excellent packs of pound-oval sar- 
dines. When the advantages and disadvantages of each were com- 
pared it did not seem as though any of them could supplant frying in 
oil, unless it be the raw-packing process, and this possibility 
depends upon shortening the time needed for drying the fish. 
10. Study of the behavior of the fish under different drying condi- 
tions showed, however, that the drying time can not be shortened 
materially in this process. 
11. In other respects excellent results were obtained from the 
drying study. It showed how fish may be dried for cooking in oil 
or by some other method in much less time and consequently with 
less equipment than had been done. 
12. The drying data obtained now enables drying procedures and 
equipment to be planned on a scientific basis. 
13. A new process for quickly preparing both large and small fish 
was devised, using rapidly moving hot air to simultaneously dry, 
cook, and, if desired, smoke the fish. The cooked fish can be cooled 
quickly in a blast of cold air and packed immediately afterwards. 
14. The new process obviates the difficulties incident to frying in 
oil and produces as good (in most cases better) packs of California 
and Maine sardines as any other process and at less cost. 
15. Details regarding equipment and operating conditions are 
given, with recommendations. ql CA / 
er aS 
1 Re No 




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