Fish Smoking | Remarkable Market Potential |

The advantages of smoking fish are manifold. Fish smoking prolongs shelf life, enhances flavor, and increases utilization in soups and sauces. It reduces waste at times of bumper catches and permits storage for the lean season. It increases protein availability to people throughout the year and makes fish easier to pack, transport, and market.

PRODUCTION PROCESS

The art of fish smoking said to be as old as civilization, combines three main processes:

Cooking – Since the smoking is done at temperatures above 80°C, the flesh of the fish is cooked, the heat destroys bacteria resting on and inside the fish and enzymes in the guts and flesh are de-activated;

Drying – The fire which produces the smoke also generates heat, which dries the fish;

Smoking – The smoke is produced by burning wood containing a number of compounds, some of which kill bacteria; the process has a preservative value.

The smoking process can take the form of wet hot smoking or dry hot smoking. Both processes are carried out at temperatures high enough to cook the fish. Wet hot smoking usually takes about 1-2 hours and yields a moist, versatile product with about 40-55 percent moisture content but a limited shelf life of 1-3 days. Dry hot smoking, which is usually preceded by the former process, takes about 10- 18 hours, sometimes days; yielding fish with 10-15 percent moisture content, sometimes even below 10 percent. Fish smoked by this process have a shelf life of 6-9 months when stored properly.

Smoke drying is by far the commonest method, since the distribution process of the smoked fish may take a long time and producers often want to store it for months while waiting for a more favorable market.

The basic steps involved in fish smoking are:

Cleaning: The fishes are bled, gutted, and gilled to remove the agent of deterioration using a knife.

Brining: The cleaned fish are soaked in a salt solution (30%)

Smoking: The fishes are smoked traditionally using either cylindrical drums, oven kilns

 

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There are several problems associated with the traditional processing methods which predispose the artisanal catch to large scale post-harvest losses estimated at over 20% of the total landed weight.

• Poor quality product due to fish being damaged by difficult handling of the fish on wire nets used to support them over the fire

• Loss of smoke and heat, resulting in uneven smoking

• Limited capacity of smoking larger volumes of fish

• Time-consuming in terms of the amount of time needed to handle the fish in smoking.

• Constant attention to the intensity of the flame and rotation of trays in order to achieve even drying of fish.

SMOKING KILN

Smoking kiln developed by Federal Institutes Of Industrial Research Oshodi, (FIIRO)

Some of the irregularities associated with the local method of smoking have been taken care of with the development of a smoking kiln designed and fabricated in 2001 by the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIMOR).

It consists of a heating chamber which is filled with charcoal and charged by fire. The cleaned or treated fish is loaded into trays and fed into the kiln. Drying is considered adequate when the moisture content has reduced to about 25%.

Packaging: The smoked fish is packaged neatly in transparent cellophane nylon ready for sales.

Benefits of Eating Smoked Fish

You can find many types of smoked fish commonly consumed on just about every continent. Smoking fish has become increasingly popular around the world because it can increase shelf life without negatively influencing nutritional content.

Using certain edible essential oils from herbs and spices, such as clove oil, in the smoking process can prolong shelf life even more. These oils can also add beneficial antioxidants to your smoked fish.

Fish are well known for being rich in healthy fats, like omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty and oily fish have nutritional benefits that are greater than those of other fish because of their fat content. This means that the nutritional benefits of smoked sardines, smoked salmon, smoked herring and smoked mackerel surpass those of other less fatty fish.

The omega-3 fatty acids in these fish are good for your brain, heart and immune system. These healthy fats have the added benefit of absorbing the flavor of smoke very well, resulting in a tastier food compared to leaner fish.

Global Smoked Fish Market Definition

Smoking is one of the oldest methods of preserving fish, dating back to prehistoric times. In recent years, smoking has been used as a method of preservation, with the addition of smoke flavor and color development. This method is only employed as a way of preservation in underdeveloped countries, while it is utilized to lend smoke flavor to the product in industrialized countries because these countries have more advanced methods of fish preservation.

Drying, deposition of naturally occurring compounds arising from thermal degradation of wood, and salting all contribute to the preservation process of smoking. All three of these variables contribute to the long-term survival of fish. Furthermore, smoked fish is ready to eat and in high demand in sophisticated marketplaces in the West. Smoking is also employed in the preservation of canned smoked fish as a phase in the process. Fish is smoked here before canning to give it a smokey flavor.

Smoke has bactericidal and antioxidant effects, making it an excellent preservative. In addition, cold-smoked fish has a soft, delicate texture, a strong salinity, and a pleasing, but not overpowering, smoky flavor, this process is carried out at a temperature lower than 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit); in fact, it is frequently carried out at temperatures ranging from 32 to 37 degrees Celsius (90 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit).

This low temperature is insufficient to properly cook the fish or destroy any bacteria that could cause sickness. On the contrary, hot smoking is carried out over a medium heat source, resulting in thoroughly cooked fish. The majority of disease-causing microorganisms are eliminated during this phase. Hot smoking requires a temperature of at least 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit). When compared to cold smoked fish, the final result appears pale and flaky.

 

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