138 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
however, that the dealers began to look for wider markets for their 
product. Europe, more especially Germany, was prospected and a 
rofitable market soon developed, with the result that to-day frozen 
acific salmon can be secured in nearly every town of any size in 
western Europe, while large quantities are marketed all over our own 
country. 
There are four important features in packing and using frozen 
salmon: (1) To get fresh fish; (2) to keep them coic. (about 15° above 
zero) after they are frozen; (3) to keep a coat of ice on them; and 
(4) to allow them to thaw slowly in cold water or in the air before 
cooking. 
In selecting salmon for freezing, only the finest and freshest of 
each species are used. The current belief that freezing destroys the 
flavor of the fish is erroneous, the flavor depending entirely upon 
the condition before freezing, and the quicker they are frozen after 
being caught the better will the natural flavor of the fish be pre- 
served. Frozen salmon are just as wholesome as fresh, and their 
chemical constituents are almost identical. The danger lies in the 
temptation to freeze the fish after decomposition has set in, but, for- 
tunately, this is now very rarely practiced in the salmon industry. 
The coho, or silver, and the chum, or dog, salmon are the choicest 
of the salmons for freezing. The other species, except the red, or 
sockeye, which is too oily and rarely frozen, are also frozen in vary- 
ing quantities. The steelhead trout, which is ranked by the Pacific 
coast dealers among the salmon, is considered the choicest fish of 
all for freezing. 
Some of the most modern plants in the country are on this coast. 
These have numerous freezers, generally, in which a temperature of 
from 25° to 30° F. below zero can be maintained if desired, alt) omgh 
a temperature of more than 10° below zero is rarely ever requ’ i“ 
All freezing is by direct expansion and each freezer is mi bes 
about 2 feet of 14-inch pipe per cubic foot of freezing space. ‘ he 
bunkers in the freezers are in pairs, generally nine pipes wide, spaced 
10 inches apart. This leaves about a 34-foot passage through the 
center of each freezer opposite the swing doors. The salmon are laid 
on metal sheets, which are placed on the tiers of pipes. 
After freezing the salmon are passed through openings in the rear 
of the freezers into the glazing room, which has a temperature of 
about 20° F., where they are dipped into water, and when removed - 
are covered with a thin glaze of ice, which may be thickened by 
repeated dippings. This is an extra precaution to exclude the air 
from the fish. 
After being thoroughly frozen and glazed, each fish is covered first 
with a parchment, like rolls of butter, and then with a piece of 
heavy brown paper. They are then packed in boxes holding about 
250 pounds each, placed in cold-storage cars and shipped. 
The method of freezing fish in brine is now under serious consid- 
eration by a number of fishermen and dealers <A_ brine freezer 
may be of small capacity and carried on a fishing boat or it may 
be a freezer of large capacity at some central point convenient for 
receiving the catches. In this method a strong brine solution, cooled 
by circulation through crushed ice, is used for freezing the fish. By 
this method large fish may be frozen in from 1 to 3 hours, a great 
saving in time as compared with the method at present in use. 
