WIDEGREN MANAGEMENT OF THE BALTIC FISHERY. 131 



blood, &c., and does not salt the fish thoroughly, but is apt to give it an 

 impure and disagreeable flavor. The quality of the salt is also of great 

 importauce. It is uot ouly necessary to use loose, strong, and hard salt, 

 which is the best for salting fish, but also to oljtain the best quality of 

 the kind of salt needed. Salt which has been damaged by sea- water, or 

 which contains impurities, should of course never be used. 



If one has fresh aud good herrings just taken from the water, good 

 salt, and clean and ample vessels, all the necessary conditions are ful- 

 filled for preparing a first-class article, following one of the methods 

 given below. 



1. Method of preparing common Baltic herrings for home conmmption and 

 for the German ports on the Baltic. 



Two mistakes are often made in salting herring as this process is at 

 the present time carried on by the fishermen ou most of our coasts, %iz, 

 salting it too much and pressing it too hard. It is highly important to 

 prepare the fish in such a manner that it may for a long time be pre- 

 served in good condition. It is of course also important, both for the 

 buyer and seller, that the barrels should be well packed. Both these 

 objects may be obtained without having the fish salted too strongly, and 

 without pressing it almost flat, so it loses all its natural fatness and tastes 

 of nothing but salt. In many places the fish are pressed so hard that 

 they form a lump, from which the brine flows oft' without penetrating, 

 which makes the fish dry and rancid and by no means agreeable as an 

 article of food. Even if such fish were to find a market in some places, 

 this method of preparing it must be condemned. Although it is of course 

 impossible to lay down rules for preparing fish which would hold good 

 in every case, or satisfy every taste — especially as one buyer cares little 

 for the flavor or fatness of the herring, but only for its weight, whilst 

 another cares nothing at all for the latter— most buyers nowadays en- 

 deavor to obtain an article having a good pure flavor, and being at the 

 same time carefully packed. To prepare such an article the following 

 directions are given, which may of course be modified to suit the difl'erent 

 tastes, &c. These directions have for several years been followed in the 

 best salting-houses in Gottland and on the southern Baltic coast, and 

 fish prepared in this way will never lack buyers. 



In preparing the common herring St. Ybes, Lisbon, or other strong 

 kinds of salt should be used; but Cagliari salt, as well as some 

 looser kinds of English and French salt, may likewise be used, especially 

 if the fish are intended for speedy consumption. The salt should be 

 crushed so that the larger crystals also melt in the Inine, and the salt 

 comes in the greatest possible contact with the flesh of the fish. . 



As salt herring are generally shipped to distant places, and are thus 

 during the voyage exposed to the pressure of other goods, or whilst be- 

 ing transported by railroad or wagons run the risk of being handled 

 carelessly, they should always be packed in carefully made tight barrels, 



