SALMON FISHERIES OF PACIFIC COAST. 65 



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, 

 fortunately, 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. 



One of the most modern plants on the coast — that of the New 

 England Fish Company, at Ketchikan, Alaska — has four freezers, 

 each 25 feet b}^ 10 feet G inches, in which a temperature of from 25° 

 to 30° F. below zero can be maintained if desired, although a tempera- 

 ture of more than 10° below zero is rarely ever required. All freezing 

 is by direct expansion and each freezer is piped with about 2 feet of 

 lj-inch pipe per cubic foot of freezing space. The bunkers in the 

 freezers are in pairs, each nine pipes wide, spaced 10 inches apart. 

 This leaves a 3-|-foot passage through the center of each freezer 

 opposite the 3| by 6| foot swing doors. The salmon are laid on 

 pans, 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 re- 

 peated 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 the cold-storage cars and shipped. 



MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 



A few years ago a company on the Columbia River put up what 

 was known as "fish pudding." In preparing this the salmon was 

 ground fine, mixed with milk and eggs, and then packed in tin cans. 

 The preparation was soon abandoned. 



In 1903 one of the Point Roberts canneries packed a new product 

 which was called " salmon paste." For this the fish was ground up, 



