THE CURING AND PRESERVATION OF FISH 109 



sun, or in the smoke of a fire. To-day the prepara- 

 tion of fish, dried fruits, desiccated vegetables, etc., is 

 a world-wide industry. 



Generally speaking, decay organisms can only develop 

 in a moist environment. All fresh foodstuffs contain a 

 large proportion of water. The removal of this water 

 effectively checks decay. Drying alone, however, 

 does not always produce a permanent " cure," as the 

 foodstuff is always liable to get moist again. For that 

 reason it is customary to combine the drying process 

 with treatment with an antiseptic substance such as 

 salt. Smoke drying is better than sun drying, for 

 although the ultra-violet rays of the direct sunlight 

 effectively kill bacteria and mould spores wood smoke 

 contains antiseptic substances with which the meat 

 becomes impregnated, so that even the chance of any 

 subsequent infection is greatly reduced. 



(4) By treating with an antiseptic substance such as salt. 



Antiseptic substances differ from disinfectant sub- 

 stances in that they do not kill micro-organisms, but 

 only arrest their development. 



As a rule, they are effective preserving agents, and do 

 not make the food poisonous or unpalatable. 



All these methods can be, and are, used for preserving 

 fish, the method most commonly used being treatment 

 with salt. Fish, however, are often kept in ice on board 

 during a fishing trip and are then either packed in ice 

 for transit under special storage conditions (if required 

 fresh) or they are salted down. 



Methods of Salting. Different methods of salting 

 are used, according to the character of the fish and the 

 locality. The fish are either cleaned (split and gutted) 

 or salted " round " (whole). In general, the method 

 used is one of the following 



(1) DRY-SALTING. The fish are cleaned, rolled in 



