SARDINE

The title ‘‘sardine’’ was originally applied to the young of the small Mediterranean pilchard, a fish nearly allied to the herring, caught off the island of Sardinia, but it long ago overleapt that restrictive definition, first adding young pilchards taken off the coasts of France—the famous Freneh sardine!—and later the young of divers other clupeoid fishes caught in many other parts of the world—especially, insofar as it concerns us, off Norway and Portugal and our own coasts. The French fishing season varies in different parts. In the Mediterranean, it extends over the entire vear. On the shores of Britt any, the center of the French industry, it is confined chiefly to the months of September and October. The fish frequent the Britt any waters throughout the entire summer—remaining until late in the fall but when they first arrive they are thin and poor and unsuitable for canning. As the season advances they improve in quality and are fat and in good con‘ition from September on. Those caught earlier are generally salted or consumed fresh by; local communities. To attract the little fish to the vieinity of the nets, large quantities of bait are scattered on the water—that chiefly used being the salted eggs of eod, haddock, and mackerel, mixed ordinarily with peanut meal or flour to decrease the expense. As many as a hundred you sand have been taken in a single net. The French fisherman’s great aim is to land the catch as speedily as po ible to insure their absolute freslne —and as a consequence they are often at the canneries within an hour or two after capture. Should the failure, or unfavorable direction. of the wind threaten to delay the arrival of the sailmg-boats and hence impair the quality of the fish, the crew row back to port. As soon as the fish reach the factories, their heads and viscera are removed and the dre ed bodies are sorted by size into large tubs of strong brine where they reiuain for about an hour. They are next placed in small, wicker baskets and washed in either fresh or salt water for a few seconds, to remove loose scales, dirt and undi olved salt. Then comes the drying—preferably in the open. For open-air drying, the fish are arranged by hand, one by one, in wire baskets, ov trays, each holding about one hundred and fifty of mediuni size, placed on wooden frames or racks. The distinetive feature of the trays is their division into about seven. V-shaped cro wise compartinents, in which the fish are placed in regular rows with their tails upward, so as to promote the escape of water from the abdominal cavity. They remain thus for a variable time, depending on their size and the state of the atmosphere, the usual period in favorable weather being one hour. In damp, fogey, or rainy weather, they are dried indoors by artificial heat, le ’ time being then required. After drying, they are taken in the same wire baskets to the cooking room and immersed in boiling oil, in open vats of various sizes and construction. The oil imnmersion usually lasts about two minutes. The baskets are next removed to a table or platform with an inclined, metal top, where the surplus oi) is allowed to drain off. and are then taken to the packing-room, where the fish are filled into the tin cans so well known to the consumer. The kind and quality of oil vary with the grade of the packing. Native olive oi]. from fairly good to the very best, is employed for fine grades, either plain or hlended with or into various sauces. Cut truffles and pickles, and spices and herbs such as cloves, laurel-leaves, thyme, and fresh tarragon-leaves, may be added to, or with. the oil, There is a limited quantity put up in melted butter. For cheaper packings some establishments use peanut oi! for both cooking and canning; in others, the cooking may be done in peanut oi] and the cans filled with olive oil—or vice vers a. Cottonseed oil is also largely employed. Some of the finer qualities are canned without bones, the extraction being usually made after semi-cooking so as to avoid tearing the flesh. Bonele sardines are further marked by the fact that they lose their tails in the operation. The French sardine is a handsome little fish, and its beauty is not entirely lost in canning. In the water, the back is of a greenish color; out of it the upper parts are rich dark-bluish, contrasting strongly with the silver and white of the sides and © abdomen. ‘T’he scales are very easily detached, but their lo does not detract seriously from the appearance of the fish, as the skin is thick and has a uniformly brilliant silvery color. At maturity (which is past the age for the canned fish) the Mediterranean type reaches a Jength of about 714 inches. His cousin of the west coast grows a third larger. French sardines, as a rule, improve with age after packing, and are at their best at from four to six years in the can. Many particular establishments will not sell stock le than a year old, as that time is considered nece ary for the proper blending of the fish, oil, and flavoring. Norwegian Sardines, or Brislings, are sprats (see Sprar). The.best grades are very good and the industry has grown encrmously during the past few decades. Importations to this country are now greatly in exce of those of the French product, and the demand is steadily increasing. Portuguese Sardines are chiefly young pilchards. Much of the output is of high quality. In recent years Portuguese imports also have pa ed those of French sardines, though they have not reached the total of the Norwegian. American Sardines. The canning of domestic sardines, in oil, mustard, and otherwise, 18 an important busine , and large quantities are consumed. On the Atlantic coast the small herring is used, and on the Pacific various young fishes—chiefly the ‘‘California Sardine’? (Clupanodon cerule us), which closely resembles the Mediterranean sardine in character and flavor—reaching, though, at maturity a full twelve inches in length. Machinery does much of the work performed in Murope by hand. The fact that domestic sardines fail to obtain the high prices and favor of the imported product is not due to any noteworthy differences in the fish themselves ee 2a a jgy| —they are in many cases fully as delicate to the extraordinary care exerak ow re Pa; cised by the leading European canneries: ~ =o achieve the finest po ible result. care, there seems no reason why a er ce the American sardine should not be oe > i ~v rated as highly as any other packing. a ome Sardines are gaining in favor. are both of American catch and cast % | imported from Norway and elsewhere, oe, re put up in oil or otherwise. os 1 The West Indies, Chile, India, Japan, } ee i cua New Zealand, and other parts of the oe eye eee eee. world also engage in the industry, using 2 cade Nae Ee Pay sca) Small fishes of various kinds, chiefly in Copyright, Keystone View Co. Pacific Countries, of the same kind as Drying sardines on the beach, Beppu, Japan that caught off our Pacific coast.