MILD CURING OF SALMON IN CALIFORNIA 9 



Fat sides gain to exceed the fresh weight, but lean sides gain little. 

 This gain is from, 15 to 50 pounds per tierce over the weight at 

 repacking time if the fish have been thoroughly cured. Hard-salted 

 salmon is so thoroughly salted that there is not this gain in weight. 



SUNBURN 



Fish caught by the trollers are too often left on deck or in a box 

 exposed to the sun. The salmon should be covered at once with some- 

 thing to shade them, wet salt sacking being the most convenient 

 thing to use. The sacking should be kept wet to prevent the skin 

 from drying and burning. Cooling from evaporation also retards 

 belly burning. After the skin dries it begins to wrinkle, and if expo- 

 sure is continued the flesh will break away from the skin. Even 

 before the wrinkling of the skin is very noticeable the flesh under- 

 neath " cooks," becomes soft, tainted, and may drop from the skin 

 when smoked. It is claimed that a fat salmon exposed to the sun 

 for 10 minutes on a hot day will become sufficiently tainted so that 

 the sour smell will be evident in the flesh of the cured side. 



Sunburning is often called " shoulder burning " because it is first 

 evident on the " shoulders," the thickest part a few inches back of 

 the head just above the lateral line. The shoulder burn may be the 

 size of a man's hand or cover half the side. Often the fish is burned 

 over the whole side. 



Sunburning so injures the flesh that it smells under the skin even 

 after curing, and buyers test suspicious-looking sides by inserting 

 a laiife or sacking needle under the skin. The oder is distinct on 

 the laiife if the side has been burned, and such fish are graded out 

 from the prime sides. Such sides are called " stinkers " at smoking, 

 .as the odor is pronounced in the smokehouse. 



BELLY BURN 



Deterioration of the fish, due to visceral decay after death, is called 

 " belly burn," because the flesh next the body cavity is darkened and 

 made soft and evil smelling. In more advanced stages the fish be- 

 comes so soft that the ribs break through the flesh. The tissue be- 

 tween the flesh fl.akes breaks down and the fish is unfit for mild cur- 

 ing. The softening of the whole fish, when held for a day or so 

 without cleaning, is only indirectly due to belly burning, but it goes 

 under that name or is called " mush fish." 



Ocean fish having food in their stomachs will begin to taint in 

 a very short time if not kept cool and moist. An hour is often suf- 

 ficient to give the flesh an odor. Ocean fish held 30 hours before 

 cleaning are sometimes so soft that the flesh about the bocl}^ cavity 

 falls to pieces in cleaning. Fish held too long before cleaning may 

 not be unfit for mild curing and may show only slightly the break- 

 ing apart of the flesh flakes, but such fish will not caseharden in the 

 chilling tank, continue to exude oil, cure badly, and are inferior 

 when smoked. All ocean fish are best when split as soon after catch- 

 ing as possible. A much-needed improvement in caring for fish is 

 the cleaning of all ocean salmon by the fisherman on his boat as soon 

 as caught, merely opening and removing the entrails. Kiver fish, 

 whose stomachs are empty, are much less apt to belly burn and may 

 be kept longer without the flesh " mushing." 



