PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
463 
size of the fish, ami the temperature, ami at any time thereafter tliey may be removed 
and repacked. This should be done at the first convenient opportunity, for the longer 
the fish remain in the pickling barrel or vat after being cured the darker they will be, 
which detracts from their value. 
On removal from the pickling barrel the fish are rinsed in the pickle to get rid of 
the surplus salt and at once weighed and repacked in the shipping packages, Avhich 
consist almost entirely of half-barrels with capacity for 100 iaouiuIs. These are made 
mostly in Sandusky, and cost from 40 to 45 cents each. The fish are carefully placed 
face up, except the two top layers, which are jilaced with the skin side up as a protec- 
tion from the head of the barrel. Salt is sjArinkled in the bottom of the barrel, at the 
top, and at intervals among the layers of fish, about 8 pounds being used for each 100 
liounds of fish. Syracuse salt ISTo. 2 is usually xireferred for packing, even though 
Warsaw or Cleveland salt has been used iu striking. When the package is full of 
fish strong brine is poured in to fill the interstices between the fish. This brine is 
made by permitting water to percolate through a box or tank, the lower part of which 
is filled with some filtering substance, such as straw or idane shuAungs, and the upper 
part filled Axith salt; or the filtering box may have a false bottom covered with burlaj), 
the salt resting above the burlap and the brine percolating through and remaining in 
a tank below. In case the salting establishment is connected Avith au ice-and-salt 
cold storage the surplus brine from the ice-and-salt receptacles may be used with 
excellent result, this brine being permitted to floAv from the receptacles into a large 
filtering tank sunk in the ground, from which it may be pumped as required. The 
strength of the brine usually depends on the season of the year and the grade of fish 
being packed. In the summer packing of Avhitefish or trout the brine should be of 
100° saliuometer test. But in October aud iv'ovember packing of herring, brine of even 
G0° test is frequently used, this being made by Aveakeuing stronger brine with fresh 
Avater. This use of diluted or weak brine is satisfactory when the iiacker is assured 
that the fish will be used before spring; but iu iiacking fish for the general trade, 
Avhere they may not be used until the following summer, the brine should not be 
weaker than 95°, and 100° test is much better. 
When the package is filled with brine the top is coopered on and additional pickle 
admitted through a hole in the head of the barrel by means of a funnel watering-pot, the 
barrel being overfilled to permit the pickle to soak in. In a few hours a plug is driven 
in the hole and the tightness of the head is tested by lAressing on it in the center. 
The decrease iu dressing fish ranges from 15 to 35 per cent of the round weight, 
according to the species of fish and the season of the year. The decrease is least 
in case of herring and blue pike aud is greatest Avith mullet and carp, but it varies 
in different seasons of the year, according to the develoinnent of the ovaries. The 
decrease iu weight of Great Lakes fish iu pickling ranges from 8 to 12 per cent of the 
dressed weight, according to the fatness of the fish and the extent of the salting. 
The decrease in herring is about 9 per cent of the dressed weight, 110 pounds of split 
fish being necessary to make a 100-pouud package of salted fish. Whitefish, being- 
fatter than herring, decrease more in weight in salting and consequently are drier, the 
salt absorbing the fat. Generally, in case of whitefish, trout, aud herring, about 132 
pounds of round fish are required for each 100 pounds of pickled fish. In brine- 
salting trout, 130 pounds round, 115 pounds from the ice, or 105 pounds from the 
knife are required for each 100-pouml package. 
