42 THE SALTING OF FISH. 



Dry-salted fish have a shriveled appearance, due to their drier con- 

 dition. They are also brighter in appearance, as a less number of 

 scales have been knocked off. 



HYPOTHESIS TO ACCOUNT FOE RESULTS. 



There are three important means of joreserving foodstuffs, namely : 

 1. By destruction of bacteria and enzymes, which is accomplished by 

 sterilization with heat. 2, By desiccation, or removal of water ; bac- 

 teria do not thrive, nor are enzymes active in the absence of water. 

 3. By the addition of a preservative, which inhibits the growth of 

 bacteria and the action of enzymes. 



When fish are preserved by salting, we make use of the two last- 

 mentioned means of preservation. The salt not only penetrates the 

 fish but also dissolves and removes water. In some way dry salt re- 

 moved more water from fish than brine. In the case of the dry-salt 

 method the salt content of the fish is greater. The lesser decomposi- 

 tion taking place during dry salting than during brine salting is evi- 

 dently due to these two facts. 



It is not clearly understood just why the salt penetrates more 

 rapidly when the dry-salt method is used. After stirring a vat of 

 fish which are being brine-salted, the concentration of the upper 

 layers of pickle immediately begins to decrease. It decreases most 

 rapidly just after the fish are put in. In large vats of fish, the pickle 

 sometimes becomes as weak as 60° (60 per cent saturation), even 

 though there may be solid salt in the vat. Of course, this diluted 

 brine is not so active as saturated brine. Also, it may happen that, 

 although the pickle appears saturated according to the hydrometer 

 reading, that in contact with the fish is not saturated, for water con- 

 tinually comes out of the fish and dilutes the brine in the vicinity of 

 the fish. It would be well to try an experiment comparing the brine- 

 salting method with the dry-salt method and have both brines stirred 

 continually. The writer believes that both methods would show up 

 equally well in such a test. 



DEY-SALT METHOD MORE ECONOMICAL. 



The dry-salt method involves a little more work at the beginning 

 of the salting period; for more labor is involved in thoroughly dis- 

 tributing the salt throughout a large quantity of fish than is re- 

 quired to make up a brine and put the fish and salt into it. But after 

 packing the fish into butts with dry salt, no further labor is required ; 

 whereas, brine-salted fish must be "roused" (stirred up), and salt 

 must be added every day during the salting period. " Rousing " is 

 an operation that requires considerable time and labor, and since the 

 fish must be roused eight or nine times, the total labor expended in 

 this process is large. There is no reason, therefore, for the brining 

 of fish in order to save labor, as in the long run this process is not 

 economical in respect to labor. 



At present the used pickle from both processes is thrown away. It 

 is the custom to save the surplus salt used in the dry-salt method. A 

 great deal more pickle is left at the end in the brine method. This 

 involves a greater loss of salt, when it is discarded, than when the 

 smaller amount of dry-salt pickle is thrown away. The dry-salt 



