The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-08-11
Shrimps.

'NNhere do shrimps come from9" in
quired San Francisco Call reporter of
an oyster-saloon keeper.
"Shrimps come from2 Why, the bay.
is full of them. There arc eight or ten
fisheries along the Quentin and several
down south It was estimated by the
Fish Commissioners, q couple or so years
ago, that as much as twenty tons of
shrimps were daily taken from the bay.
The business is now entirely controlled
by Chinese-they are the only ones who
can make it pay. They bring them
around daily to the restaurants. The
greater quantity, however, they dry and
send to China. where they are esteemed
an epicurean dish. ! believe consid.
erablc quantity of the supply is also fed
to hogs, which wax fat upon them. The
California shrimp, I suppose you know,
is the largest and most edible of its kind.
The shrimps we used to have in New
York were not near so large, and they did
not have the flavor of the California
shrimp. When I first came here, eight
cen years ago, people did not know the
superiority of shrimrs, and there were
few of them to be gotten. The Italians
first took to the business of fis ling them.
They used to sell them at tw) bits
pound. They were found to be so plen-
tifll that the price went gradually
down, sinking to Is cents, then to 8
cents. This was too cheap to pay for
the fishing, and the Italians gave the
business entirely up to the Chinese. We
now buy them at the regular price of S
cents. They are being received with
continually increasing favor, and have
spread from restaurant dish to private
tables. They are generally served at all
oyster saloons as prelude to regular
Dishes"
"Do they live on cadavers2" inquired
the scribe2'
Nonsense! No, the shrimp is an cpl
curcan j his mod st aquatic way. His
principal diet is marine insects. although
he is not averse to a piece of raw fish
when he gets an opportunity. However,
he is more the hunted than the hunter.
Many larger fish esteem him rare deli
cacy, and they make his life burden to
him. When he is not foraging for food
the shrimp buries himself in the sand, aud
all there is visible of him are his two
long eyes protruding."
GLOW arc they, ,caught2"
"Wc!l, you ought to go down and see
the fisheries. Fishing shrimp is reduced
to a science, and is very in eresting. The
Cinnamon stake out nets between two
posts in the water. The nets are funnel
shaped, and as the tide comes in the
shrimps drift in in regular channels.
When the tide goes out the fishermen re-
verse the funnel and catch new lot.
The shrimps when alive are white in
complexion. They a:e then thrown into
vat of boiling salt water, and as they
are cooked they assume that rich auburn
hle."
"Is that all the culinary preparat on
they receive before they are put upon the
table,"
"Yes, that's all. They are brought to
US already cooked and we dish them up
as they are. AsI said, the greater por-
ton of them are dried and sent to China.
This process in itself is interesting.
After cooking them the Chinese spread
them out in the sun. where they remain
until perfectly dry and the meat is shriv-
eed up. They then go at them with a
fail, as though they were thrashing
grain. and the dry she'll IS broken and
beaten off. These are blown off and the
kernels collected and packed in boxes
for shipment to China"