466 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
rise over them. After keeping them steeped for some weeks they were washed, packed, and pressed 
into clean barrels, just as was formerly done to the old-fashioned fnmadoes. On their being put on 
the market it was at once seen they were the article wanted ; for these lish, instead of having the 
dirty yellow hue of the fumado, had the desired bright and clean silvery color, hence they have been 
in demand ever since. The fish-curer in question took out no patent rights, hut allowed all to use his 
discovery ; so much so that for some seasons past not less than 1,000 hogsheads of fish yearly have 
been shipped for the Mediterranean from Mevagissey alone. The barrels first used have been super- 
seded by large steeping vats, one of which here will hold over 500,000 fish. Since the business in 
question has been progressing, it has been discovered that the Spaniards cure sardines much after 
the same manner. 
Pickled pilchards are not so well flavored as salted pilchards, or fumadoes, but 
they will keep a much longer time, it being necessary to dispose of the latter within 
a short time after curing. 
ITALIAN SARDELS. 
The method of preparing the celebrated and deliciously-flavored sardels of Italy 
is as follows : 
After the freshly caught sardels or anchovies (Engraulis encrasicholus) have been well salted and 
washed they are cleaned and the lower jawbone is removed and the fish strongly salted in a barrel 
with 50 pounds of salt to 100 pounds of fish. There the fish remain for two or three months, when 
they are removed and loosely packed in the market barrel or package, being resalted at the same time, 
25 pounds of salt being used to each 100 poiruds of fish. The barrel is set upright, and after three or 
four months the blood ijickle is poured off through a bunghole. During this time the barrel is placed 
in the sun, so that the pickle has become quite strong, and sometimes a little ocher is added to the 
Ijickle to give it a dark-red color. The fish may then be used within a few weeks, but to acquire its 
best flavor about three years are required. 
GAHRFISCH OR FERMENTATION FISH. 
In some of tbe districts of northern Sweden there is a unique method of preserving 
fish, the product being known as gahrfisch ” or fermentation fish. V arious sj)ecies are 
used, but mostly the stromling or Swedish anchovy. The freshly caught anchovies, 
after being dressed and thoroughly washed, are lightly salted and loosely packed 
in tight wooden barrels. A blood pickle made from the dressings of the fish is then 
poured over them until all the fish are covered, when the barrel is tightly sealed. 
It is then iilaced where the sun’s rays can reach it, and there it remains four or five 
weeks, the fish undergoing fermentation. If this fermentation be too rapid the barrel 
is removed to a cooler place, and as soon as the fermentation has taken place the 
barrel is opened and its contents repacked in smaller packages, which must be kept 
securely sealed, otherwise putrefaction quickly ensues. These fermentation fish are 
eaten either raw or cooked, but the market is limited to northern Sweden. The odor 
is very strong and excites a feeling of disgust among persons unaccustomed to eating 
them, but when a taste for the fish has been acquired they are highly relished. 
SAHLSTROM PROCESS OF BRINE- SALTING FISH. 
A method of pickling fish, intended especially for herring, was devised about 
fifteen years ago by Carl A. Sahlstriim, and has been used to some extent in Norway 
and Scotland. It is somewhat similar to the Eoosen process of preserving fish fresh 
by means of an antiseptic, and consists, first, in placing the dressed fish in a closed 
cylinder, into which brine is introduced until the cylinder is full. Additional brine is 
