Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-01-24
YANKEE SARDINES.
How Small Herring are Made to Resemble the
Famous Little French Fish.

YANKEE SARDINES.
How Small Herring are Made to Resemble the
Famous Little French Fish.
Nine-tenths of the sardines consumed
in the United States come from Maine.
Very few of the real French fish are
imported now. These Yankee sardines
are nothing but small behring's put up
in boxes with gaudy labels and French
Inscriptions. In Eastport there are
nineteen places where they turn out sar-
dimes. besides three at Lubec, two at
Jonesport, and one each at Millbridge,
Lamoine, and Robbinston. In 1876 a
New York firm did a lucrative business
packing Russian sardinesn IN East
port. These were little herring packed
in small wooden kegs and preserved
with spices of different kinds. 1t &C.
Cured to one member of the firm that
these little fish might be utilized TO bet
ter advantage by cooking them and
packing them in olive oil, like the
French sardines. The expel iment had
been tried severa, years before without
success. The difficulty was to eradicate
the taste of the herring. This gave rise
to the couplet:
You may spice and may call il sardine il you will
But the taste of the herring will cling to it still.
1t was easy to cook the herring, pack
them in olive oil in tin cans. and seal
them air tight, but when they were
opened they had not the rich, spicy
flavor of the regular French sardines.
After a great many experiments, one of
the manufacturers succeeded in pro-
ducing mixture of oils and spices
which removed the difficulty.
The herring used for making sardines
are about four inches long, and are
taken in great quantities along the
Maine and New Brunswick coast. They
can be bought of the fishermen for
about SIS hogshead, although when
the fish are scarce, as they often are in
the spring, they bring as much as $15
hogshead. To catch the fish small
| trees or brush are thrust into the sandy
bottom of the sea, arranged in line
running out from the shore some rs or
100 feet, and then curved back like a
horseshoe. Inside this trap is a net.
When the tide is falling the net is
raised, and the fish are taken out with
huge scoop nets. The catch is always
very uncertain; sometimes only a bushel
or two will be taken, and often so many
are caught as to endanger the net.
There is another way of capturing the
fish. Herring, like mackerel, go in
schools, and, for some reason, always
follow light. Two or three fishermen
provide themselves with torches made
of cotton batting saturated with kero-
sene, and on dark nights row along the
shores with q torch in the bow of the
boat When school is found the her
ring dart after the boat, coming so close
that they are dipped up in nets attached
to short poles.
After being captured the fish are ta-
in heaps upon long tables. The first
thing is to decapitate and clean the fish.
The dexterity with which this operation
is performed by the children who are
employed is remarkable. On an aver
age seventy-tive are cleaned and dec-p-
itated every minute by each child.
Both operations are performed with one
stroke of sharp knife. A box holding
about bushel lies at the feet of each
operator, and as the cleaning is COM
pleted the fish slides into this box. The
pay for the work is ten cents box, and
some of the children make dollar and
half day.
After being washed the herring are
picked for half an hour, and are laid
upon trays and placed in large drying
room heated by steam. After the fish
are dry they are thrown into large, shall
low pans of boiling oil and thoroughly
cooked. They are then packed in tin
boxes by girls and women, and in each
box is poured quantity of the patent
mixture OF oils and spices. Covers are
then fitted to the boxes and sealed on by
men. AS air must be excluded, the
cans, when sealed, are placed in tank
of boiling water where they remain
half an hour and are then removed and
placed on an inclined plane so that the
air inside rushes to one corner of the
box. This corner is punctured with an
awl, the hot air escapes, and the can is
made air-tight by a drop of solder.
The boxes are then ornamented with at
tractive French labels, stating that the
enclosed are "Sardii2eS q la Fr0ncdise:n
some are labeled 80 rbuiltle dolire"
The oil used is cottonseed oil, such as is
made IN South Carolina. 1t is not al
ways the best quality of oil. The best
oil is used, however, for fish sold as
prime"
There are prepared at these factories
other varities of fish known as mus,
tards," ''maranees' and sea trout"
The mustards are prepared like the sar-
dimes until they are put in the cans.
They are packed in preparation made
of mustard, vinegar, and oil, with a
soupcon of piece. The mustards are
larger fish than the sardines. The mar
anees are packed in sauce made of
vinegar, spices, lemon, and sugar, and
the sea trout are large herring put up
In oval boxes with still another sauce.
Almost the entire product of these
factories is shipped to New York,
whence it is sold to retailers all through
the country. One of the Lubec houses
prepares about 1920 boxes day. The
actual cost per box, including all ex-
penses, is about five cents. The profit
made by the packers IS from five to
seven cents. The difference between
these prices and what the consumer
pays for the fish at the grocery goes
into the pockets of the grocerymen.