There are several methods in preserving fish. Fish preservation involves Chilling and Freezing, Salting, Fermentation, Drying and Dehydration, Smoking, Pickling and Spicing, and Canning.
There is one thing first to consider, make sure that the fish that is going to be preserve is new and still fresh.
The method of Chilling and Freezing; if the fish is exposed to a low temperature environment, the growth of the microorganisms could be prevented; this could lead to spoilage prevention. The appropriate temperature is 0 degree Celsius which involves the use of ice or a refrigerator.
The use of ice for chilling is very much convenient and widely used in the markets. If you are going to use ice for fish preservation, make sure that you have sufficient amount of ice. To keep the fish properly chilled with ice, usually the coarser ice should be put on the top while the melted ice should be put below.
Fish can also be preserved by the way of salting. Salt elements will lower the water content below the point where bacteria or microorganisms can no longer live and grow. In the time that water passes out from the tissues of the fish, the salt will going to penetrate the fish tissues until the salt solutions filled it in. This is called as the “osmosis” absorption process.
Fish fermentation can also preserved fish. It is the process of breaking down the protein in the fish caused by an enzymatic action. It is called as hydrolization. In this process of fermentation, the flesh of the fish is allowed to get “ripe”; this is the state where the flesh of the fish will start to disintegrate before it is going to undergo “aging”. In normal process, fermentation takes up to 8 months. It will take less than a month that if pure salt is used and the temperature is increased from