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MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



dry condition. These processes have been described in some detail in the preceding 

 chapter. As ground fish contain very Httle fat, the salted fish may be stored dry. 

 But since fish oil oxidizes and hydrolyzes, quickly becoming rancid and causing 

 rusting of the fish, salted fatty fish, such as herring, alewives, mackerel, salmon, 

 and shad, cannot be dried or stored where they are exposed to air. 



In the methods of salting, which are described in this chapter, the fish are kept 

 under brine or away from the air at all times. Herring, salmon, and mackerel are 

 always salted in watertight containers and are under pickle as soon as the salt 

 extracts sufficient water to form enough brine to cover them. When repacked for 

 market, they are placed in watertight kegs or barrels which are subsequently filled 

 with brine. Alewives are either salted in the same manner or placed in vats of 

 brine. When packed for market, they are arranged compactly in tight barrels so 

 as to exclude as much air as possible. 



Since the general physical and chemical principles of fish salting have been 

 described in the preceding chapter, further theoretical consideration of the salting 

 of fatty fish is unnecessary. Statistics showing the quantity and value of all species 

 of fish salted in the United States in 1945 are given in Table 90 (Anderson and 

 Powers, 1949). 



Table 90. Quantity and Value of Salted Fish Produced in the United States 



IN 1945. 



* Includes dry-salted barracuda, dry-salted bonito, salted blue runner, whole salted 

 hake, salted jewfish fillets, salted menhaden roe, dry-salted pilchard, salted salmon 

 bellies, dry-salted sea bass, salted sea trout, salted sturgeon roe, salted tuna fillets, salted 

 yellowtail tuna, and salted tongues and sounds. 



