528 
BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
the belt at the other end of the case. After passing along the belt once the fish go 
into the bath of boiling oil and are treated in the nsnal manner. With this apparatus 
the several tlakers recpxired by the old method are represented by one woman, who 
spreads the fish on the belt, and a man who turns a crank which moves the machinery.* 
After leaving the frying-pan or the oven and draining and cooling, the fish are 
assorted according to size, and those of like size are placed in tin cans or boxes pre- 
viously filled with oil, or, in some cases, mustard sauce or vinegar with spices. Up to 
within a few years, although other oils were used in the frying, the sardines were 
packed in olive oil, either alone or mixed with inferior kinds, but at present its use 
has been almost entirely superseded by cotton seed and nut oils. This change is 
accounted for by the facts that the heavy duties make olive oil very expensive, that it 
will not keep as well as cotton-seed oil, and that the latter can be made exceedingly 
palatable. It is claimed by some canners that even at the same price cotton-seed 
oil is more desirable for the Maine sardines, because the fish imparts its di§tinctive 
herring flavor to olive oil much more readily than to cotton seed, the latter covering 
it up somewhat. It is stated that at some of the canneries even tallow oil and herring 
oil have been used. Peanut oil, which is sometimes used, is said to be even better than 
cotton-seed oil. The oil is usually flavored to the taste by adding lemon, sugar, and 
various spices. The olive oil used in France for sardines is said to be often largely 
adulterated with American cotton-seed oil, as well as with palm and other oils. 
In packing the fish, those of the most desirable size are packed with a dozen in 
each can; the number is never smaller than seven or eight. The smaller fish are 
generally packed in oil in quarter-cans,” which are 4.]- inches long, 3 inches wide, 1 
in('h deep, and contain from 9 to 12 herring measuring from 34 to 4 inches when dressed. 
The larger fish, measuring from 8 to 94 inches in length when whole, or from 4 to 4^ 
inches dressed, are occasionally placed in oil, but more frequently are put in mustard, 
spices and vinegar, tomato sauce, or other condiments, in “half-cans,” holding from 
10 to 10 fish. These cans are 4.^ inches long, 34 wide, and 3 inches deep. Occasionally 
“three-quarter” cans of oil sardines, or in tomato sauce, and “ half” or “ three-quarter” 
cans in spices are put up, and in rare instances small fish are put up in mustard or 
spices in (piarter-caus. 
When the cans have been iilled with fish the covers are sealed on, and the filled 
cans are then ready for bathing, and are placed in boiling water, where they are 
allowed to remain from 1.] to 2 hours, according to the size of the cans. Fish jirepared 
with spices must be boiled longer than those prepared entirely with oil. The time of 
boiling may be considerably reduced by introducing a proper (luantity of chloride of 
lime or other chemicals into the water, by which tlie temperature may be raised to 
upward of 2b0° in the open air. Some canneries accomplish this by using a closed bath. 
By either of these methods the time can be reduced to about 30 minutes. 
Formerly, after the bath, the cans were punctured, to alloiv the inclosed air to 
escape, and the puncture was thereupon closed with solder. In this process, when the 
cans are punctured the escaping air carries a iiortion of the oil with it, so that when 
the cans are opened the fish are found to be only partly covered with oil, and conse- 
quently not in a state of perfect preservation. If the can has been j)roperly sealed, 
the top and bottom become level or horizontal when boiled the second time. The fact 
that it does not expand into a level position is sufficient evidence that there is a defect 
* Bull. U. S. Fish Commission for 1890, p. 117. 
