PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
469 
mentioned is sprinkled over each layer, with the addition of a few cut hay leaves or cherry leaves. 
At the bottom and the top of the package is placed two whole hay leaves, hut before the top leaves 
are laid on, brine is poured over the fish. The barrels or kegs are then coopered and rotated daily 
for the first few days, and after that every other day for two or three weeks. 
The following process is also used to some extent: 
The fish are salted for 24 hours and next immersed in sweetened water, 20 parts of water to 1 
part of sugar being used. The fish are then packed with a mixture of Luneburg salt with 90 units 
or parts of allspice, 60 units of pulverized sugar, 19 units of whole peppers, 15 units of cloves, an 
equal quantity of nutmeg or in.ace and of hops {Origatium creticum), and some bay leaves. 
The following is a choice method of preparing “ Miitjesheriug ” in Germany: 
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 wijied dry and covered with a preparation composed of 2 i^ounds 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. 
Spiced lierring {Oeiviirzhering) are prepared in Germany in tlie manner above 
described, with the addition of spices mixed with the salt. The spices commoidy used 
consist of 1 part of Spanish pepper, 5 parts of white pepper, 4 parts of cloves, 
parts of ginger, an equal quantity of mustard, and a particle of mace and of Spanish 
marjoram, with a few bay leaves scattered between the layers. 
PICKLED STURGEON. 
In the early history of Hew England pickled sturgeon was an article of home 
traffic, and considerable quantities of it were exported to the West Indies. During 
the early half of the present century comparatively little use was made of sturgeon, 
either fresh or otherwise, but since I8C0 there has developed a considerable demand 
for the flesh, especially when smoked. 
A small quantity of sturgeon is brine-salted along the Southern coast and on the 
Great Lakes in the manner described for swordfish, but the smokers, take nearly all 
the surplus from the fresh-fish market. 
It is probable that the jflckled sturgeon referred to in the early Hew England 
history was prepared in practically the same manner as is still in vogue among the 
Germans in the West, i. e., by boiling the meat and preserving it in weak vinegar 
flavored with suitable spices. 
In 1629 Governor Endicott, of the Massachusetts Colony, was ‘‘ordered to send 
home to the company in London two or three hundred firkins of sturgeon and other 
fish”; and by 1633 a considerable export trade existed in pickled sturgeon, most of 
which were caught in the Merrimac River. An early description of the town of 
Hewburyport, Mass., says: “At the mouth of the river, stands Hewbury, pleasantly 
situated, where abundance of sturgeon are taken, and jiickled after the manner 
used in the Baltick.” The Indians called that river Monomack, signifying sturgeon. 
In 1656, “a keg of sturgeon, ten shillings,” was among the charges for entertaining an 
ecclesiastical council at Salisbury. 
