MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 49 



both the cut and uncut fish read 85° on the salimeter. One-fourth of 

 the time necessary for the uneviscerated fish to remain in strong 

 pickle (90°) is sufficient for the eviscerated fish to acquire an equiva- 

 lent salt content. 



The effect of steaming on the salt content of the sardines packed 

 from these two lots of fish shows the same relative differences at the 

 various intervals of time as existed when the raw fish were taken 

 from the pickle. The loss of salt by steaming was greater in the cut 

 and eviscerated fish than in the uncut fish. The salt content of the 

 packed goods prepared from fish held in pickle 30 minutes was much 

 higher in the case of cut fish than that from uncut fish which had been 

 in pickle one hour. The degree to which steaming removes the 

 excessive amount of salt is well shown in the case of cut fish which 

 had been in pickle for 2, 3, and 4 hours. Before steaming 

 these fish contained 17.69, 22.07, and 22.41 per cent of salt, respec- 

 tively. After steaming and packing they contained 11.47, 13.58 and 

 16.35 per cent, a loss of 6.22, 8.49 and 6.06 per cent. The pack from 

 the uncut fish, which had been in pickle 4 hours, contained 13.43 per 

 cent of salt, a loss of only 0.85 per cent from the amount found in the 

 raw fish. These results show the extent to which steaming removes 

 the salt from the fish, particularly where it is present in large amounts. 



A comparison of the salt content of eviscerated with that of 

 uneviscerated fish, at different lengths of time in pickle, points unmis- 

 takably to cutting and eviscerating as the means for obtaining the 

 proper salt content of fish in the minimum period of time. It also 

 follows, therefore, that cutting and eviscerating permit the proper 

 pickling of the fish with the least loss of extractive material. 



Fish that are to be fried in oil when cut and eviscerated require 

 much less time in pickle than fish which are to be steam cooked. 

 From 10 to 15 minutes in a 90° pickle should be sufficient for evis- 

 cerated fish which are to be fried in oil. 



During the course of this experiment it was noticed that, while the 

 bellies of the uncut fish broke out to some extent during the time 

 they were held in pickle, the cut fish showed no signs of being belly 

 broken. 



Distribution of Salt in Sardines. 



The distribution of salt in the skin and meat of the uncut fish and 

 the loss of salt from the skin after steaming were determined. One 

 set of samples was prepared by removing the skin from a number of 

 fish which had been in dry salt for seven hours. Another set was 

 prepared from the same lot of fish which had been steamed for 10 

 minutes. The results of the. analyses of these two sets of samples 

 are shown in Table 22. 



5890°— 20— Bull. 908 4 



