THE SALTING OF FISH. 11 



the fish are "gibbed" or ''pipped." That is to say, the gills are 

 cut out, and the viscera, with the exception of the roe or milt, are 

 pulled out. The fish are sold in brine. 



BOOTHBAY HARBOR, MB. 



Herring is the principal fish packed in Boothbay Harbor. INIost 

 of the fish are Scotch-cured here. In this process the pipped fish are 

 mixed with fine salt by hand without being washed. They are then 

 carefidly packed in barrels. Salt is sprinkled over each layer. A 

 day or so later the barrels are filled up with herring of the same day's 

 pack. After 9 or 10 days the barrel is drained of the old pickle, and 

 the fish are washed with it without unpacking. The barrel is then 

 completely filled with fish and filled through the bunghole with 

 100°, or full-strength, brine. The peculiarity of this method is that 

 the fish are not washed before being salted. Therefore, every bit of 

 blood in the cut fish either remains in the fish or goes into the pickle. 



SUMMARY. 



As stated previously, no effort has been made to include all the 

 variations of the different methods of salting fish. Neither has 

 any attempt been made to discuss any detail other than the mode 

 of applying the salt to the fish. From the above description it is 

 seen that all the methods include but three general modes of appli- 

 cation of salt to fish : 1. The fish are immersed in a solution of salt 

 which is kept saturated, or nearly so, by the addition of salt from 

 day to day. 2. The fish are packed in water-tight containers with 

 dry salt and are allowed to develop their own pickle. 3. The fish 

 are packed in piles (kenches), and the pickle is permitted to run off 

 the fish as it is formed. 



The last-mentioned method is used only in cold weather, in an 

 emergency when there are no containers at hand. Such is often the 

 case on ships fortunate enough to make extraordinarily large catches. 

 As it is practical only in cold weather, the method is not available 

 for much commercial fish salting, and therefore no experimental 

 work with it has been attempted. 



The brine method of salting fish is chiefly used along the Chesa- 

 peake Bay, in the Reedville (Va.), and Havre de Grace (Md.) re- 

 gions. This method has the big disadvantage of requiring more labor 

 than the dry-salt method. Some salt must be added nearly every 

 day, and the pickle must be watched closely to prevent it from be- 

 coming too weak. The fish must be roused (stirred up) every day. 

 This is done with large paddles of various sizes and shapes and re- 

 quires the expenditure of considerable energy. The fish produced 

 by this method are much softer and contain more water than those 

 produced by the dry-salt method. They appear similar to partially 

 " struck," clry-salted fish. However, the fish are more plump and 

 seem more like fresh fish than the dry-salted product. 



The dry-salt method involves no rousing after salting and necessi- 

 tates but one addition of salt, provided the fish are properly salted in 

 the beginning. Usually the fish salted by this method are tightly 

 packed in barrels or butts and not disturbed. This prevents the salt 

 from falling to the bottom, as is the case when the brine-salted fish 



36286'"— 21 14 



