Salted fish

Method

Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt. It is related to pickling (preparing food with brine, i.e. salty water), and is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria. Smoking, often used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required. Salting is used because most bacteria, fungi and other potentially pathogenic organisms cannot survive in a highly salty environment, due to the hypertonic nature of salt. Any living cell in such an environment will become dehydrated through osmosis and die or become temporarily inactivated.

The water activity, aw, in a fish is defined as the ratio of the water vapour pressure in the flesh of the fish to the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature and pressure. It ranges between 0 and 1, and is a parameter that measures how available the water is in the flesh of the fish. Available water is necessary for the microbial and enzymatic reactions involved in spoilage. There are a number of techniques that have been or are used to tie up the available water or remove it by reducing the aw. Traditionally, techniques such as drying, salting and smoking have been used, and have been used for thousands of years. In more recent times, freeze-drying, water binding humectants, and fully automated equipment with temperature and humidity control have been added. Often a combination of these techniques is used.

History

The practice of salting fish dates back to ancient times. In classical antiquity, the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, located in present-day Israel, was also known by its Greek name, Taricheae, meaning "place of fish salting." The Greek geographer Strabo even praised the quality of its fish (Geographica 16.2.45).

Health effects

Due to the elevated levels of nitrites, consuming salted fish increases risk of stomach cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classify salted fish (Chinese-style) as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Gallery

File:Carlb-nfld-codflakes.jpg|Platforms, called fish flakes, where cod dry in the sun before being packed in salt File:Usines de Salaison I Neapolis.JPG|Remains of Roman fish-salting plant at Neapolis File:Malpe(24-1-08).JPG|Drying salted fish at Malpe Harbour File:Salt fish dip 070826-292 mank.jpg|Salt fish dip at Jakarta File:Port Eynon - The Salt House - geograph.org.uk - 868752.jpg|Ruins of the Port Eynon Salt House, where seawater was boiled to extract salt for preserving fish File:Egyptian fishery3.jpg|Egyptians bringing in fish and splitting them for salting File:A salt fish in the market.jpg|Salted dried butterfish in Chinese food store at Yuen Long, Hong Kong File:Fish in salt crust-01.jpg|Fish in a salt crust File:Fish cellars at Church Cove - geograph.org.uk - 824054.jpg|Fish cellars at Church Cove, England, used for pressing salted pilchards into barrels for storage and export to the continent File:Koserower Salzhütten 001.jpg|Salt cabin, a small building where fish is salted, in Koserow, Germany File:Dried Fish - ଶୁଖୁଆ.jpg|Dried fish in a market in Odisha

Notes

References

• Schwartz, RK (2004) "All roads lead to Rome: Roman food production in North Africa" Repast, 20 (4) : 5–6 and 8–9.

References

1. [http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/factsheets/food_pres_hist.html "Historical Origins of Food Preservation."] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-10-15 [http://www.uga.edu/nchfp University of Georgia, National Center for Home Food Preservation]. Accessed Mat 2012.)
2. FAO: [http://www.fao.org/fishery/topic/12322/en Preservation techniques] Fisheries and aquaculture department, Rome. Updated 27 May 2005.
3. Broshi, Magen. (2001). "Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls". Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
4. (2023-06-13). "Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma". Medical Sciences.
5. [https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Summary-of-Third-Expert-Report-2018.pdf "Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: A Global Perspective"]. wcrf.org. Retrieved 14 February 2023. "There is strong evidence, mostly from Asia, that consuming foods preserved by salting (including salt-preserved vegetables, fish and salt-preserved foods in general) is a cause of stomach cancer."
6. [https://www.wcrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Meat-fish-and-dairy-products.pdf "Meat, fish and dairy products and the risk of cancer"]. wcrf.org. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
7. [https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html "Known and Probable Human Carcinogens"]. cancer.org. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
8. [https://monographs.iarc.who.int/list-of-classifications "Agents classified by the IARC Monographs"]. monographs.iarc.who.int. Retrieved 14 February 2023.