sometimes lime (calcium carbonate), and later lye (pure sodium hydroxide, at the rate of about grams per liter water) These strong alkaline substances cause the proteins in the muscle fibers to accumulate a positive electrical charge and repel each other When the fish is then simmered in the usual way (after several days of rinsing to remove excess lye), the fiber proteins bind to each other only weakly It’s hard to draw a clear distinction between salted and fermented fish Bacteria play some role even in hard-cured cod; and most fish fermentations start with a salting to control the bacterial population and activity Most salted cod, herring, and anchovy products are not generally thought of as fermented, so I’ll describe them in this section Salt Cod Bountiful cod was one resource that attracted Europeans to the New World, where the standard treatment was to split and salt the fish, and lay them out on rocks or racks to dry for several weeks Nowadays cod may be hard-cured for 15 days to saturate the flesh with salt (25%), then held without drying for months During that time, Micrococcus bacteria generate flavor by producing free amino acids and TMA; and oxygen breaks up to half the very small amount of fatty substances into free fatty acids and then into a range of smaller molecules that also contribute to aroma The final artificial drying takes less than three days Salt cod remains a popular food around the Mediterranean as well as in the Caribbean and Africa, where it was introduced during the slave trade Scandinavia and Canada are still the largest producers White pieces are preferred to yellowish or reddish ones, the colors being indicators of oxidized or microbial off-flavors Cooks first reconstitute and desalt it by soaking it for hours to days in .. .the standard treatment was to split and salt the fish, and lay them out on rocks or racks to dry for several weeks Nowadays cod may be hard-cured for 15 days to saturate the flesh with salt (2 5%),... Mediterranean as well as in the Caribbean and Africa, where it was introduced during the slave trade Scandinavia and Canada are still the largest producers White pieces are preferred to yellowish or reddish ones, the. .. substances into free fatty acids and then into a range of smaller molecules that also contribute to aroma The final artificial drying takes less than three days Salt cod remains a popular food around the Mediterranean as well as in the Caribbean and