PRESERVATION OP FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
549 
FOOD EXTRACTS OF MARINE PRODUCTS. 
Various methods have been introduced for jireparing extracts of the alimentary 
principles of marine i)roducts, especially of those that are otherwise wasted. In 
ISorway and other countries of northern Europe a number of i)reparatious in the 
nature of pastes or extracts are made from fish. A well-known instance is the fish 
meal of Norway, which is composed of the fiesh of fish reduced to powder, in which 
all of the nourishing materials are concentrated and condensed, with the addition of 
certain other substances. It is claimed that it contains 4 times as much nutritious 
matter as beef, and IG times as much as milk or rye bread. On the coast of Cochin 
China, large quantities of a fish paste are prepared from the shrimp and small fish 
inhabiting the inshore waters. It is stated that this sauce is brought to perfection by 
being buried in the earth for several years. About $500,000 worth is consumed in the 
French provinces alone. 
EXTRACTS OF FISH. 
Following the idea of Baron von Liebig in preparing the well-known article of 
commerce known as “extract of meat,” several attemijts have been made to prepare 
a similar article from fish. In the case of meats, the substances soluble in Avater are 
extracted from the tissues, and the albumens are then coagulated by the aid of heat 
or by the addition of dilute acid. The fluid remaining after the coagulated albumen 
has been skimmed off consists of the extractives and the salts soluble in water, and 
this is evaporated down to a semifluid condition, in which it is placed on the market. 
In 1B7G, Stephen L. Goodale, for many years secretary of the Maine Board of 
Agriculture, introduced a method of iireparing a food extract from fish, especially 
applicable in connection with the use of menhaden for oil and fertilizer. His process, 
as improved in 1880 and covered by Letters Patent No. 24858G, dated October 25, 
1881, was as folloAvs : 
Clean the fish and hoil for a short time to coagulate the albumen contained in the muscle juices. 
Sei>arate the liquid from the solid matter by drainage and pressure and allow the ]i(inid to stand in 
a suitable vessel until any oil which may have passed over in the liquid has risen to the surface 
and been removed. The liquid is then aerated at the highest practicable teuqieratnre, either by iiitro- 
dnciiig a current of heated air or of heated steam, or by ebullition with free access of air, when a 
substance causing turbidity is precipitated, the complete preeij^itation being ascertained by examining 
samples taken out from time to time in a glass tube or heater. If gelatine be present in the liquid, 
which is the case if skins and bones are not excluded in cleaning the fish, the precipitate will be finer 
and slower in falling than if muscular flesh alone were used. The liquor will also attain a somewhat 
darker color, resembling that of light wine, and be reduced in bulk by the further concentration inci- 
dent to the means used to effect precipitation. When the precipitation is completed the precipitate 
should bo removed from the liquid either by drawing oft" or by filtration in amy convenient manner. 
The clear liquid thus obtained is evaporated, as is customary in making meat extracts, the evapora- 
tion to be continued until the desired consistency has been reached, which is usually about that of 
honey. The product may be jmt up in cans, bottles, or other closed vessels. 
