106 BULLETIN 908, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tion of kippered herring is comparatively simple and inexpensive, and 

 experimental packs made during a lull in the packing of sardines 

 showed that an excellent quality can be produced on our eastern 

 coast. Kippered herring is one of the best products for which the 

 herring may be utilized. It is believed that there is an excellent 

 opportunity to prepare this food product on a larger scale than has 

 heretofore been done in this country and that it will provide a means 

 for the sardine packer to utilize large fish to a better advantage than 

 heretofore, thus adding to his present profits. 



RUSSIAN SARDINES. 



In 1870 the importation of Russian sardines into the United States 

 amounted to 50,000 kegs a year, coming for the most part from 

 Hamburg. The disturbed trade conditions arising at that time 

 stopped the importation of this product, whereupon an attempt was 

 made to supply the deficiency with a domestic article. That this 

 enterprise was successful is shown by the fact that in the late nineties 

 some 60,000 7-pound kegs, worth approximately $27,000, of Russian 

 sardines were prepared annually in this country. By 1900 the 

 industry had become quite important, but the next 10 years showed 

 a rapid decline, until in 1913 practically none of these sardines were 

 produced here. The imported article had taken the place of the 

 domestic product. It is believed that many of the fish too large to 

 be packed as ordinary sardines now might well be put on the market 

 in the form of Russian sardines. 



Conditions are now similar to those which inspired the production 

 of Russian sardines at Eastport in 1874. The foreign supply is again 

 shut off, or greatly curtailed, and an unusual opportunity is presented 

 to win back and hold a market in a food product which has once been 

 won and lost. 



Stevenson has discussed the method of preparing Russian sardines 

 (30), as well as methods for making somewhat similar products known 

 as Matjeshering and spiced herring. 



MATJESHERING. 



Fresh full herring, both spawners and melters, are well washed, and the gills, 

 stomach, and intestines are removed in such a way as not to necessitate cutting the 

 throat or abdomen, this being accomplished by pulling them through the gill flap. 

 The fish are next immersed for 12 or 18 hours in a 7 per cent solution of white wine 

 vinegar, from which they must be removed before the skin becomes flabby and be 

 wiped dry and covered with a preparation composed of 2 pounds of salt, 1 pound of 

 powdered sugar, and a small quantity of saltpeter, this quantity being sufficient for 

 75 herring. The fish are then packed in a barrel as upright as possible, in layers, with 

 a sprinkling of salt over each. The following day the fish are returned with the 

 original brine to the barrel, which is sealed. When there is not sufficient brine to 

 fill the barrel, additional should be made of 1 part of the above mixture and 4 parts 

 of water which has been boiled. 



