nough to float an Irish potato) for from 15 minutes to
an hour, depending on the thickness of the pieces and the softness of
the flesh.

CANNING THE FISH

1. Remove the fish from the brine where it has been placed in order to
draw out all the blood and to harden the texture of the fish.

2. Drain well.

3. Cut into can lengths.

4. Place fish in a piece of cheesecloth or in a wire basket and blanch
in _boiling water_ from three to five minutes. Three minutes for the
soft flesh fish, such as suckers, crappies, whitefish. Fish with a
firmer flesh, as pike, muskalonge and sunfish require 5 minutes
blanching. The blanching removes the strong fish flavor and cleans the
outside of the fish.

5. Cold-dip the fish by plunging into cold water immediately. This
makes the flesh firm.

6. Pack in hot jars or cans to within 1/2 inch from top. Add 1
teaspoonful salt per quart. Put on a good rubber and partially seal
the jar, completely seal tin cans.

7. Place jars or cans in canner and process in _boiling_ water for
three hours. Three hours sterilization will insure the keeping of all
varieties of fish, providing fresh products are used and the blanching
and other work is carefully done. If canning with a steam-pressure
canner or a pressure cooker sterilize for one hour and a half under 10
to 15 lbs. pressure.

8. At the end of the sterilizing period cool the jars quickly after
sealing completely. The tin cans may be cooled by immersing them in
cold water.

9. Store for future use.

SOFTENING OF BONES IN FISH

This can be done satisfactorily under pressure. The bones of fish are
composed of large quantities of harmless lime, bound by a matrix of
collagen, which is insoluble under ordinary conditions. When subjected
to a high temperature under pressure this collagen is converted into
gelatin and dissolved, leaving the bones soft and friable and even
edible. Bony fish, such as herring and shad, which are too small to
use otherwise are greatly improved when subjected to steam under
pressure.

The bones in herring are softened in 37 minutes at a temperature of
240 degrees; shad in 1 hour; flounder 1 hour. Other fish are fully
cooked and the bones softened in times approximately proportionate to
the size of the bones.

The following table was made after many experiments and gives the time
required to soften the bones in many common species of fish.

The term "softening" means the point in cooking when the small