CONCLUSION 177 



Of a good herring 70 per cent is edible, and it 

 contains 13 per cent of protein and 5-6 per cent of 

 fat, its energy value representing 498 calories per Ib. 

 The amount exported in 1913 would be enough to 

 supply each member of the population with about 

 25 Ib. of fish per annum. This quantity of fish 

 represents the equivalent of about two months' meat 

 supply for every person in the United Kingdom. 



It is necessary, however, that the fish should be 

 preserved in a form palatable to our population, 

 and the only method, the cheapest and the best, is 

 by freezing. Two methods of freezing may be 

 employed (a) dry freezing, and (6) freezing in brine. 

 In the former the fish are simply frozen in the air of 

 a cold chamber at some temperature below 25 F. ; 

 the time required properly to freeze a herring is at 

 least 12 hours, and the resulting product shows a 

 market loss in weight and flavour, the flesh further 

 becoming pulpy with loss of juice in thawing. In 

 brine freezing the fish are plunged into a bath of 

 ordinary salt brine at a temperature below 16 F., 

 a fish being completely frozen through in two hours. 

 The pipes by which the chamber is cooled can be 

 passed through the brine bath, which is open to the 

 air, or, experimentally, the whole process can be 

 carried out, as we have done it, by using an ice-and- 

 salt freezing mixture in a large tub. 



By the brine-freezing process 17 to 12 relays of 

 fish can be frozen in the same bath in 24 hours. 

 The fish, when removed, can be simply packed in 

 barrels, which can stand, as we have proved, for 

 months in a cold-storage chamber at 28 to 32 F. 

 12 



