PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
4G5 
viscera, and are split down the back or sometimes the belly, so as to lie out Hat. 
They are next washed and soaked until the blood is removed and then covered with 
salt and placed in barrels, first a si)rinkling of salt and then a layer of fish, and so on 
until the barrel is filled. Then brine is poured in to fill the interstices and the barrel 
is headed and coopered. 
In Europe a large variety of marine products are brine-salted, most of them being 
prepared from species of the herring family. The following descriijtions apply to the 
method of preparing a number of them : 
PRESSED SARDINES. 
The “pressed sardines” of Sweden are prepared in the following manner: 
As soon as the sardines are caught they are thoroughly eviscerated, cleansed, and salted in layers 
in large vats, 65 pounds of salt being used to 100 pounds of fish, this salt being thoroughly sprinkled 
between the layers of tish. Within two or three days brine forms and covers the fish, and there they 
reinaiu for one or two, and sometimes three months— the longer the better. When ready for repacking, 
the sardines are laid flat in the barrel with their tails pointing toward the center, while before they 
were i>laced in layers. The barrel is thus filled to within 4 inches of the top, and over the fish is 
placed a sheet of jjaper, and upon that a thin board which is smaller than the opening of the barrel, 
and lastly a wooden block which measures one-fifth the height of the barrel. By means of a screw the 
wooden block and the fish underneath are slowly pressed down ; then the block is removed and the 
space filled with more sardines, until the barrel is overfull. A sheet of paper and another thin board 
are put on the fish and pressed down like the first, when the barrel hoops are loosened, the cover 
placed on, and the barrel tightly sealed. The barrels are provided with small holes, so that the oil 
and moisture may run off. A barrel of 40 gallons capacity will hold from 3,000 to 8,000 pressed 
sardines. 
SALTED PILCHARDS OR FUMADOES. 
Somewhat similar to the above is the English process of preparing pilchards 
{Clupea pilchardus) in the form of fumadoes* for the Italian markets, which is thus 
described in Holdsworth’s Sea Fisheries : 
The curing is the especial work of the women, who pack the jdlchards in alternate layers of 
coarse salt and fish on the stone floor of the curing house until the “ bulk” has reached a height of 5 
or 6 feet. Here the fish remain for a month, and the oil and brine draining from them arc carried off 
by gutters in the floor to a cistern. When the fish have been sufficiently salted, they are washed and 
packed in hogsheads, each layer of fish being placed with their heads outward and with a “rose” of 
fish in the center. A circular piece of wood called a “buckler,” and rather smaller than the head of 
the cask, is then placed on the top of the fish and strong but gradual pressure is applied by means of 
a lever until the mass of fish is reduced one-third in bulk and a great quantity of oil squeezed from them. 
This drains through the sides and bottom of the cask, the hoops of which are not at that time very 
tightly driven, and is collected as before. The quantity of oil obtained from the pilchards depends on 
the season, but at least 2 gallons of oil are expected from each hogshead. It is xirincipally used by the 
leather-dressers. The cask is filled up three times before the pressing is finished, which is not until 
after eight or nine days, and then the hogshead (50 gallons) of fish should weigh 4 cwt. gross. The 
average number of fish packed in a hogshead is about 2,500. The pilchards cured at St. Ives in 
the early part of the season are mostly taken by drift nets, but the seine fishery at a later jjeriod is 
mainly depended on to provide the fish for exportation. 
A large trade in iiickled pilchards is carried on between Cornwall and the Italian 
ports, according to Francis Day, the idea having originated at Mevagissey, as follows: 
In 1876 [Land and Water, November 18, 1882], a fish-curer here found there was a demand in the 
Mediterranean fish markets for bright salted pilchards. He first thought the matter out and then 
cured several tons of pilchards by throwing them, with salt, into barrels, and allowing the brine to 
* As may be inferred from the name, these fish were formerly smoked. William Borlase noted, in 
1758, “fuming them being for many years laid aside.” 
F. C. B., 1898-30 
