PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 523 
tliat they are boiled a little longer in order that the heat may thoroughly penetrate the 
shell and i>reserve the meat. 
“Deviled lobsters” in half-imund cans have been prepared at several eanneries, 
the article originating in 1871.* 
Twenty years ago London was the principal distributing market of the world for 
canned lobsters, England, France, and Germany receiving about three-fourths of the 
entire product of the world, which at that time amounted to about 400,000 cases of 4S 
1-po'und cans. The consumption in the United States, then comparatively small, has 
steadily increased; so that while the total pack has decreased to about 250,000 cases 
a year, the United States consumes about 100,000, or 40 per cent, 
CANNING SHRIMP. 
The shrimp-canning industry was established in this country in 3875 by Messrs. 
G. W. Dunbar & Sons, at New Orleans, La. Their factory was occupied mainly with 
the canning of various fruits, and utilized shrimp only during the months in which 
they are most abundant. As the product became better known the extent of the 
business increased and canned shrimi) is now, next to oysters, the most valuable of the 
marine xuoducts canned on the Gulf of Mexico. 
The quality of the product during the first year of the business was unsatisfac- 
tory, as the direct contact of the shrimii with the tin caused, during the process of 
cooking and thereafter, a precipitation of black or dark matter which discolored the 
shrimp and detracted from their flavor and richness, and the liquid in the shrimp 
constituted a medium for diffusing the coloring matter throughout the can, so that all 
portions of the contents were equally affected and discolored. This precipitation or 
coloring is believed to be caused by the action of suliihur contained in the slirimj) on 
tlie metal of the can. After much experimenting, Messrs. Dunbar overcame the 
trouble by interposing a lining between the meat and the can, which protected the 
tin from the action of any acids contained in the shriinxi. They also i)lace the shrimj) 
in the lined can while they are in a dry or moist condition and devoid of free liquid, 
and seal the can without adding any liquid to its contents. The lining consists of 
any textile fabric in the form of a cylindrical bag or sack, the diameter of which, when 
filled, permits it to fit snugly within the can. The use of this lining was protected by 
Letters Patent 178916, dated June 20, 1876, and Keissue 9957, dated December 6, 1881. 
The process of canning shrimi^ at that time, according to the specifications 
accompanying the letters patent, was as follows: 
TLe shells having been removed from the shrimp in the usual manner, the fish is thrown into 
salt water of about 6°, and there remains for an hour, more or less, and from thence to kettles filled 
with water and brought to a boiling heat, after which they are placed on drippers and cooled and 
thoroughly rinsed with fresh cold water,' from which, so soon as thoroughly dripped and in a moist 
condition and without the addition of salted or otherwise prepared liquid, they are placed in the sad;, 
the same having been jueviously arranged in the can. So soon as the sack is filled, the mouth thereof 
being properly secured, the lid or head is placed in position on the can and immediately sealed. The 
cans are then subjected to a steam hath or placed in kettles containing boiling water and boiled for 
two hours at the highest temperature attainable, and which completes the process. 
Tiie present method differs somewhat from the foregoing in a few minor jmrticu- 
lars. As soon as iiracticable after being landed from the luggers, the ‘shrimp are 
* The Fishery Industries of the Uniteil States, sec. v, vol. 2. 
