4 Salting General information By salting food, storage life is prolonged. Salt absorbs much of the water in the food and makes it difficult for micro-organisms to survive. For salting, it is important that the fish or meat has been prepared in such a way that the salt added can quickly draw into the flesh | 4 Salting General information By salting food storage life is prolonged. Salt absorbs much of the water in the food and makes it difficult for micro-organisms to survive. For salting it is important that the fish or meat has been prepared in such a way that the salt added can quickly draw into the flesh and the moisture can leave the fish or meat. Large pieces of flesh must be cut into thin slices to allow this. Fish are divided in half or even in quarters depending on their size. Fish smaller than 10 cm anchovies sardines usually only have their intestines removed. Fish of 15 cm are split open so that the surface area of the fish is increased salt can penetrate better and the flesh of the fish therefore becomes thinner. Large cuts can be made in fish 25 cm or longer or these can be split a number of times see Chapter 3 . To learn how to salt fish for example the amount of salt needed and the effect of those quantities on the firmness and the taste of the fish it is recommended at first to use small amounts of different kinds of fish that are easily available. It is easier to start with non-fatty kinds of fish. Lean fish is recognizable by its white or very pale flesh. More fatty fish usually have a darker colour. The quality of the starting material to be used must be good. Old rotten fish or fish of poor quality is not improved by salting it and is certainly not storable for longer. The same is true for meat. Salt intended for salting fish should be as clean as possible. The salt may not contain any dust sand etc. Salt can contain bacteria which can survive despite a very high salt concentration. These bacteria can therefore also cause salted fish or meat to spoil. Strongly contaminated salt can be recognized by a slightly pink colour. It can be heated on a Salting 25 metal plate over a fire to kill the bacteria. Salt can be very fine or have large chunks a mixture of fine and coarse salt is best. During the salting of fish and meat in the tropics attention .
