PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
389 
PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS BY DRYING AND DRY-SALTING. 
Next to heat, moisture is the greatest aid in the development of bacteria, and its 
removal constitutes one of the most important iirocesses of preservation, being applied 
to a variety of foods, as fruits, cereals, and occasionally to the coring of meats, but its 
most important application is to the curing of fish. The moisture may be removed in 
several ways — by exiiosure to the air, by pressure, by combining with the fish certain 
substances possessing a strong affinity for water, such as salt, by use of absorption 
pads, etc. 
Drying in the open air is the most ancient method of preserving fish, it being the 
principal method in vogue among the Phoenicians, and uj) to the present time it lias 
been employed to a greater or less extent in nearly every fish-producing country, 
either in its original form or with certain modifications tending to assist in removing 
the moisture. The use of salt performs a twofold function in curing fish, it acting as 
an antiseptic as well as diminishing the amount of moisture. Fish can be cured 
equally hard by resalting with dry salt several times at suitable intervals as by drying in 
the open air. But tlie former is impracticable on the score of economy and the latter 
is not generally employed exclusively, because of the unsuitable climatic conditions, 
and in America it is most practicable to combine the two methods with the addition 
of compression, the fish being first salted in butts and afterwards pressed and dried. 
The original process of curing fish solely by drying in the sun is very little used 
in this country, as there are few localities where the air is adapted to it. The Indians 
of the Northwest dry a number of species, among which are halibut, salmon, cod, 
eulachon, smelt, etc., and at a few other localities some minor species are dried, but 
the business is inconsiderable and there is no general traffic in these products. 
In Norway, Sweden, and Eussia, and other countries of northern Europe, where the 
air is comparatively free from moisture, cod are yet dried without the use of salt, but 
Norway is the only country that prepares large quantities in this manner. The fish 
are beheaded, eviscerated, and cleaned with sea water and suspended in the air on 
stands about 8 feet high, where they remain for weeks, and even months, until they 
are hard enough to withstand the strongest pressure of the tip of the thumb in the 
thick of the flesh along the back without giving way, and it is necessary to soak them 
in water for several hours before preparing them for the table. This is known as the 
stockfish cure, and the annual jiroduct in Norway exceeds 400,000 quintals, which is 
marketed in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and other countries, especially 
those located in the Tropics. 
In the United States, the British North American Provinces, France, Iceland, and 
certain other countries the greater i)ortion of the desiccation is iierformed by salt, the 
fish being first salted and then dried ; but in each country the methods differ in some 
particulars, as in the quantity and quality of salt used, the extent of the drying, the 
length of pressing, etc., depending not so much on the caprice and fancy of the 
individual curers as upon the market for which the fish are intended, regard being 
