|UNC Sea Grant 



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North Carolina State Library 

 Raleigh 



March, 1^1^ 

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( MAY ' 



Why smoked fish in North Carolina? 



Centuries ago, the coastal Indians 

 began smoking fish over glowing em- 

 bers as a means of preservation. By us- 

 ing this method, the catch from a good 

 fall fishing trip could be enjoyed 

 throughout the lean winter months. 

 However, as time passed and 

 refrigerators came into being, preser- 

 vation was no longer the primary 

 reason people were still smoking fish. 



The rich, distinctive flavor produced 

 by smoking kept the fires burning and 

 the product in demand. 



In North Carolina, the smoking 

 tradition is still maintained in many 

 backyard home smokers and in two 

 commercial businesses. The state's 

 waters are rich in resources, and smok- 

 ing provides a good market for some 

 species, such as bluefish and mullet, 



which do not keep well in frozen 

 storage. 



And, for the latest in research and 

 general information, the Sea Grant 

 staff at the NCSU Seafood Lab is 

 ready to answer questions from smok- 

 ing techniques to which seafoods 

 smoke best and why. With resources 

 and research, potential for seafood 

 smoking is great in North Carolina. 



Photo by Cassie Griffin 



A delicacy 

 in demand 



Andrew Michaels, owner of the Chapel Hill Smoked Fish Company 



Three years ago, a young man in 

 North Carolina decided to turn a 

 hobby into a business. Now, on quiet 

 Friday afternoons in his shop outside 

 Chapel Hill, customers stream in to 

 buy his product. By Saturday noon, 

 it's standing room only. And, by Mon- 

 day, a 500-pound order has been 

 packed and shipped to a supermarket 

 outside Washington, D.C. 



The product that many faithful 

 customers and wholesalers buy week 

 after week is smoked bluefish from 

 North Carolina waters. And, business 

 is truly booming for Andrew Michaels, 

 owner of the Chapel Hill Smoked Fish 

 Company. He attributes the success of 

 his retail business to the large 

 cosmopolitan population in the 

 Triangle area, "a consumer sophistica- 

 tion," Michaels says. 



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