5 Drying General information on natural drying Spoilage of fish and meat is slowed when water is drawn from the fish or meat. This can be achieved by salting as described in Chapter 4 but also by naturally drying fish or meat. The best results are achieved by combining salting with drying. | 5 Drying General information on natural drying Spoilage of fish and meat is slowed when water is drawn from the fish or meat. This can be achieved by salting as described in Chapter 4 but also by naturally drying fish or meat. The best results are achieved by combining salting with drying. Salting the fish or meat is not essential but has great advantages and is therefore strongly recommended before drying. The salting ensures among other things that during drying the micro-organisms at the surface are inhibited and insects and other vermin are kept away. Thus the spoilage of material is slowed. After drying salt gives a more stable product with a longer storage life. The use of salt before drying and the manner of salting see Chapter 4 depend on the availability of salt and local customs. Generally very small fish are dried unsalted. Large fish will spoil before the drying process is completed and therefore salting is necessary. It is important that fish and meat be prepared in such a way that salt can be quickly drawn into the flesh and moisture can quickly leave. To achieve this try to keep the flesh of the products thin and the surface area of the product as large as possible see Chapter 3 . Be sure to work as hygienically as possible. Make sure that a batch of meat or fish to be dried is made up of pieces of roughly the same size. This ensures that the whole batch dries evenly and that after drying part of the product is not too dry or actually not dry enough. Very fatty fish or meat is difficult to convert into a good salted and or dried product. The problem is that the fat forms a barrier to salt penetration and or loss of moisture. Drying 37 Preparation Salting see Chapter 4 is part of the preparation for drying and depends among other things on the availability of salt and on local customs. After salting the excess water formed must be removed from the fish or meat. With meat it can be done by passing the larger pieces of meat through a wringer two
