SC - Chinese Crab - Charibdys japonica

[Philip & Susan Troy]

UlfR wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> > Par Leijonhufvud commented:
> > > just as long as the UN does not catch on to the fact that we *are*
> > > stockpiling biological weapons...
> >
> > I don't think lutefisk counts as a biological weapon.
> 
> We are talking about surströmming here. A very different beast.
> 
> /UlfR

Surströmming are a Scandinavian form of pickled herring made not with
vinegar, which seems to be the more common method, but by salting them
with approximately half as much salt as would normally be used for
salted herring. Herring is sometimes salted right on the ship from which
they are caught (this method appears to date from the 13th or 14th
century, BTW) in cases where the fishermen had to go farther afield to
find the shoals, hence the whole Hanseatic League thing yadda yadda...
but that's another story.

When your catch is huge, and you begin to run out of salt, what you do
is skimp on the salt in each barrel, thinking to sell the imperfectly
preserved herring to the first sucker that comes along -- cheaply and
with your no-returns-in-case-of-food-poisoning-caveat-emptor-policy
clearly written in very small print on the back of the receipt.

Then, what happens as you sail home across the sea, is that the fish
begins to undergo a lactobacillic fermentation, something like what
happens to half-sour or dill pickles, or sauerkraut. The bacteria
produces lactic acid, and this actually preserves the fish rather
nicely. It also produces a flavor which is an acquired taste at best for
some, but highly prized by many others, and instead of unloading your
cheap, half-rotted herring on unsuspecting rubes, you can sell your
surströmming to wealthy herring connoisseurs, whose demand greatly
exceeds suppy in almost any given year.

If it's after the mid-19th century, you'll have found that a good way to
distribute your surströmming is in soldered tins not otherwise
heat-processed: you don't want to spoil the flavor by cooking the fish
in the tin, or killing the bacteria. So, you put the fish in cans and
then refrigerate them anyway. All is well.

However, what then happens is that the fish continue to ferment slowly
in the can, producing gas and alarming pressure and finally, bulges on
the can similar to those produced by botulism. The fish is perfectly
safe to eat, although cans of surströmming have been known to explode.

I'm pretty sure UlfR entertained us at one point with the story of the
adventures of a surströmming fan arrested by either the Bomb Squad or
some kind of Anti-Terrorist Task Force after a surströmming accident in
a major airport. 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com