Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
PROCESSING
By
Refrigerating-
Raw fish can be kept in refrigerator at the temperature
of 40ºF or lower.
Should be stored in covered containers.
While keeping in refrigerator, fish should be moist but
not wet.
For refrigerating fish at home, the fish should be
removed from wrapper, rinsed properly in clean cold
water, pat dried with paper towel and kept in a plate or
pan lined with double layer of paper towels.
The pan should be covered tightly with aluminium foil or
plastic wrap to avoid leakage.
This covered fish may be kept in the coldest part of the
Freezing-
It is done if the fish is not to be used within 2 days of
the catch or to be transported.
It must be properly cleaned and handled before
freezing.
The temperature of freezing fish should be 0ºF or less.
Following methods can be used for freezing the fish-
A.Double wrapping-
Suitable for small whole fish, steaks or fillets.
In this, fish is tightly wrapped individually in plastic
wrap and again wrapped tightly with another layer of
wrap.
These wrapped pieces are kept in a sealable freezer
bag or may be wrapped tightly in aluminium foil.
The sealed bags are placed scattered in freezer and
when they are frozen, they can be stocked on top of
B. Freezing in ice block-
This method is suitable for steaks and fillets.
It protects the fish from freezer burn and avoids the
exposure from air.
For freezing fish in ice box, it is cut into small pieces
and placed in containers. Head space of one inch
should be left for expansion.
Fish is then covered with cold water and kept in
freezer to freeze.
Check whether fish is completely covered with ice or
not.
When freezing is done in a pan, the ice block is taken
out by running little cold water at its bottom and ice
block is double wrapped and kept in freezer.
C. Glazing-
1.Canning-
In canning fish, high heat treatment is given to destroy the
present bacteria and the product is packaged in hermetically
sealed containers to protect against recontamination.
Canning provides shelf stable fish and so freezing space is not
required. Canning may keep the fish fresh for even years.
For canning fish, only half-pint or pint-jars must be used, quart
jars not to be used. These jars should be thoroughly cleaned with
hot soapy water.
Glass jars with glass threads are best for fish or meat canning.
Any one of the 2 lids types may be used for the jars-
Glass lids used with separable rubber sealer ring
Metal lid to which a sealing compound is already applied and
over which the metal band is screwed.
The process of canning involves following steps-
1.Preparation of fish-
Fish are gutted, gilled and iced down as soon as possible.
Fillets can be prepared.
Large fish may be cut into smaller pieces.
Washing is done in clean and cold water and proper draining is
done to make them quite dry.
2.Cleaning of jars-
Jars are cleaned and sterilized.
3. Filling of jars-
Sterilized, clean jars are packed with cleaned fish
During filling, head space of an inch must be left, so that the
seal is not disturbed.
There should not be any air pockets left.
4. Closing of jars-
Warm, dried lids are put on jars and rims are tightened.
Lids with sealing compound, requiring boiling or holding in
warm water before use may handled so as per the directions
of the manufacturers.
5. Heating of jars-
Sealed jars are placed in pressure canner and heating is done.
The pressure canner should be in perfect order and directions
given to work with it to avoid the risk of botulism food
poisoning.
2. Smoking-
It is done for 2 purposes-
For preservation
For texture and flavor.
Smoking is much common in less developed countries where
refrigeration and transportation facilities are not very good.
Smoking is very popular in developed countries for taste.
Steps in smoking includes-
1. Preparation/cleaning of fish-
Scales, head, fins, tail, viscera are removed and fish are
washed with clean cold water.
2. Curing of fish-
It can be done in two ways-
a. Wet/brine curing-
Ingredients used for brine curing are 3 cups table salt, 1½
cups brown sugar and 1 gallon of cold water. Other spices
may also be added as per the choice.
All these are mixed properly in a non-metallic container.
Fish is completely immersed in brine. One gallon of brine is
sufficient for curing four pounds of fish.
It is then refrigerated or kept in ice bags to keep the fish
cool.
Brining is done for 2 to 6 hours.
b. Dry curing-
In this salt is rubbed directly on the fish.
For this, three parts of brown sugar is mixed with one part of
non-iodized salt and fish fillets are placed in a deep non-
metallic pan.
The piece is covered with dry cure mix and kept in
refrigerator for 18-24 hours.
After curing, fish are taken out, rinsed lightly, pat dried and
placed on paper towel and air dried for one hour.
3.Drying of fish-
Cured fish are dried before smoking.
Drying forms a pellicle or glaze on the skin, which keeps
moisture in and contamination out and allows the smoke to
adhere properly to get smoky flavor and uniform color.
Drying can be done in cool shady place or in smoker racks.
4.Smoking-
The fish may be cold or hot smoked.
Smoked fish may be kept for many months in freezer but in
refrigerator, cold smoked fish may be preserved for several
months but hot smoked may be kept only for a week.
Smoking requires- a smoke source, a smoking chamber and an
air ventilation system.
a. Cold smoking-
The fish is smoked at low temperature for long time.
For this, fish is placed in smoker having temperature
maintained at about 80ºF. It should not exceed 90ºF else it
will become cured and cooked and unsafe for consumption.
The smoking time for small fish may be 24 hours and for
large fish it may be 3-4 days of continuous smoking.
b. Hot smoking-
In this, fish is placed in smoker having temperature of not
more than 90ºF for the first two hours. During this period, fish
will get a brown color.
The temperature is then raised gradually to about 175ºF and
smoking is done for 4-8 hours.
2. Salting-
The bottom of water proof vat is covered with a thin layer of
salt and fish are layered on it with flesh side up.
Fish layer is covered with thin layer of salt leaving no space.
In the same manner two or three layers of fishes are placed.
Then fish is reversed with skin side up covering them with salt
layer. The top layer is always a salt layer.
As due to salt, moisture comes out and brine is formed. The
brine is kept saturated by adding more salt.
Because of moisture loss, fish level is fallen and accordingly
more fish may be placed along with the salt layer.
The fish may be cured for 12-15 days in warm weather and 21
days or more in cold weather.
Properly salted fish flesh is translucent, firm but yields to light
pressure.
3.Washing and drying to remove extra salt-
After salting, fish are washed in unpolluted sea water or fresh
brine and put on plain surface, applying pressure on them to
remove moisture and make them thinner.
4.Drying-
Salted fish may be dried in sun or by artificial heat and air
generated by fans.
4. Drying and Dehydration-
Oldest method of preserving perishable food items like fish
and is considered as least costly method.
Two common methods for drying fish are-
a. Sun drying-
Advantages-
Due to high concentration and diminished water content,
spoilage due to microbes and enzymes are avoided.
It is simple and inexpensive method.
Further, dried fish may be stored at most ambient
temperatures.
Demerits-
No control over drying conditions.
Dependency on natural weather
Greater chances of contamination with dirt and dust and
infestation with insects, their eggs and larvae.
b. Dehydration-
The drying carried out in controlled conditions.
Dehydrated fish have high quality and longer shelf life than
sun dried fish.
Various driers like cabinet drier, kiln drier, tunnel drier, etc
are used.
5. Fermentation-
Fermented fish have been considered as a Southeast-Asian
product for long.
Fermented fish products are prepared by salting and
fermenting the fish to convert the flesh into simple
components.
Fish fermentation lasts for 3-9 months and the flesh liquefy
or becomes like a paste.
Fermented fish means any fishy product having degradative
changes due to enzymatic or microbial activity.
Some common fermented fish products are- Nuoc-man of
Vietnam, Nam-pla of Thailand, Sushi of Japan and Patis of
Philippines.
The main fermentation procedures are-
i.Fermentation with salting and drying
ii.Fermentation and drying without salting
iii.Fermented with salting but without drying.
CONCLUSION