140 American Fisheries Society 



Since amino acid nitrogen indicates decomposition, the con- 

 clusions from this table are entirely obvious : Only those fish 

 were successfully salted at temperatures of 79° and 88° which 

 had been thoroughly cleaned and from which all blood had 

 been removed. While these high temperatures were chosen for 

 the test because severe tests bring out differences in a more 

 striking way, the differences will still exist even at lower tem- 

 peratures and manifest themselves in the poorer or better qual- 

 ity of product. Now it may be either the blood or flesh or both 

 in which the decomposition takes place. Since the perfectly 

 clean fish decompose only slightly in may be that only the blood 

 decomposed in such cases as those given in the table, and the de- 

 composed blood pervading the otherwise sound tissue gives the 

 appearance and odor of decomposition to the whole fish. On 

 the other hand, it is possible that the enzymes in the blood when 

 present, operate to decompose not only the blood proteins, but 

 the tissue proteins also. However this may be, the indisputable 

 fact remains that if fish are to be salted in very warm weather, 

 it is absolutely obligatory that the blood be removed. The blood 

 cannot be removed by mere eviscerating and rinsing in water. 

 The kidney, a very bloody organ inclosed by a membrane 

 against the backbone, must be scraped out before the fish is 

 washed. If fish are cleaned in this manner, and salt of a very 

 pure quality be applied in the dry condition, it is astonishing 

 not only what severe temperatures it will stand, but also how 

 excellent it is when cooked. 



IMPROVED METHOD OF SALTING FISH ESPECIALLY FOR WARM 



WEATHER 



Several factors have now been shown to have a marked 

 influence on the quality of fish pickled in salt, namely, care in 

 handling before salting to prevent bruises, use of salt free from 

 calcium and magnesium (less than one per cent total impur- 

 ity), packing in dry salt, and thorough cleaning and removal 

 of kidney and blood. By combining all these factors into one 



