PRESERVATION OF FISH BY SALT. 15 



obligatory that the blood be removed. The blood can not be re- 

 moved by mere eviscerating and rinsing in water. The kidney, a 

 very bloody organ inclosed by a membrane against the backbone, 

 must be scraped out before the fish is washed. If fish is cleaned in 

 this manner and salt of a very pure quality applied in the dry con- 

 dition, it is astonishing not only what severe temperatures it will 

 stand, but also how excellent it is when cooked. 



IMPROVED METHOD OF SALTING FISH ESPECIALLY FOR WARM 



WEATHER. 



Several factors have now been shown to have a marked influence 

 on the quality of fish pickled in salt, namely, care in handling before 

 salting to prevent bruises, use of salt free from calcium and mag- 

 nesium (less than 1 per cent total impurity), packing in dry salt, 

 and thorough cleaning and removal of kidney and blood. By com- 

 bining all these factors into one method highly satisfactory results 

 under the most adverse conditions have been obtained. 



A trial of the method was made in the herring season of 1920 

 (March, April, and May) on the St. Johns Eiver. Fla. This region 

 was selected because it offered a combination of the conditions sought. 

 The climate is excessively warm, and there is an abundance of fish 

 (alewives) adapted to preservation by pickling in a region where an 

 industry might well be built up and where repeated efforts to salt 

 fish in the past had failed. Accordingly, the interest of local fisher- 

 men and dealers was enlisted to cooperate in the undertaking, and an 

 experienced fish packer from the Chesapeake Bay region was sent 

 to Florida, after he had been thoroughly instructed in the technology 

 of the process, to try salting by the proposed method on a small 

 commercial scale. 



The details as conveyed to the fishermen for handling the fish were : 

 (1) Avoid (a) bruising the fish in removal from gill nets, (5) walk- 

 ing on, and (c) piling deep in boats; (2) salt as soon as possible; 

 (3) wash and scale in cold water; (4) behead and eviscerate and (a) 

 scrape out kidney or (b) split nearly through to the back and lay 

 open; (5) wash in weak brine to remove all traces of blood; (6) rub 

 with fine salt of a high degree of purity and pack backs down in a 

 barrel, leaving fish lightly covered to form their own brine; (7) after 

 they have been struck through pack down and add other fish of the 

 same lot to fill barrel; and (8), in conclusion, (a) head up barrel and 

 pour saturated brine into bunghole to cover fish for storage, or (&), 

 if to be sold for consumption at once, take out of the brine and rub 

 in fine dry salt, then pack in sugar barrels or other light containers 

 and ship immediately. 



The results fully justified expectations in every way. The fish 

 were preserved successfully, and none that had been handled in the 

 prescribed way spoiled. In eating qualities they were pronounced 

 as good as or better than the best commercial salt herring from the 

 Chesapeake Bay region. In order to test the absolute necessitj^ of 

 the prescribed methods, other small batches were put up in different 

 ways — by using cheaper salt, leaving roes in, and other such modifica- 

 tions. These trials were failures without exception. About 80,000 

 fish were packed by the prescribed method and marketed the first 

 vear. 



