IMPROVEMENTS !N PROCESS OF SALTING RIVER HERRING, 

 ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES/ 



By Harden F. Taylor, Technolorjist, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



Contribution from the Fisliei-y I'roducts Laboratory, Wasliington, D. C. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the warmer parts of the United States it has generally proved 

 to be difficult, if not impossible, to preserve certain kinds of fish by 

 salting, though some kinds api)ear to be more difficult of j^reserva- 

 tion than others. The reason for failure was believed to be that at 

 warm temperatures the fish spoils before the salt penetrates to the 

 innermost parts; this l)elief was verified experimentally in an investi- 

 gation - in which several improvements in the process of salting 

 alewives or river herring were evolved. Xo doubt these improvements 

 are ai^plicable also to other kinds of fish. As will be seen below, 

 none of them are really new, but Mell known procedures were studied 

 chemically and variations Avhich gave best results were followed 

 in every case, so that the process is very much more successful under 

 adverse conditions, and the final product is superior in quality. 



While the procedure herein described has been quite successful in 

 a small way, it will be understood by all cautious persons that no 

 unusual methods should l)e applied on a large scale until their prac- 

 ticability has been thoroughly established by commercial applica- 

 tion. In Florida some 8(),()0() river herring, or alewives, Avere salted 

 under the supervision of this Bureau in the 1920 season. These were 

 marketed at a good price, and no comj^laints were lodged with the 

 producers, so far as known. It therefore seems pro})er to make 

 availabk' in practicable form tiio details of the process employed for 

 those who care to try it. 



As .stated above, the difficulty in salting fish in warm climates 

 seemed to be due to slow penetration of salt and rapid decomposition 

 of the fish. Obviously, then, any procedure that hastens penetration 

 of salt and retards decomposition of fish should improve the pros- 

 pects of success. A number of simple and practicable ways of doing 

 both of tliese things were found. For example, it was found tliat 

 calcium, or lime, and magnesium, the common impurities in salts 

 u.sed commercially, retard j)onetration altogether out of proportion 

 to the quantities present. A salt consisting of 4.7 parts of magnesium 



1 Appfrndix II to the Iteport of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1921. B. F. 

 Doc. No. 'M)H. 



' For orJKinnl chemicnl and Hcientiflc datn on which this paper Is based, see " Some 

 ronsid<T;itlr.n.s foncorninic tlie SaltliiK of Fisli," h.v I>onald K. 'I"fC8«ler, IJ. F. Doc. No. 

 884, Appendix V, Ileport, U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1919. 



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