Home canning, drying and preserving

Canned fish is common today — it is cheap, easy to transport, pre-cooked and easily procured.

However, it is less commonly made in the home, according to Mrs Andrea. The most important point to note, she suggests, is that “fish should never be canned if there is the slightest doubt of its being fresh.”

A short chapter, the only two entries are for lobster and generic pickled fish. Lobsters have always been a delicacy, regardless of country, period or use — and today it is near impossible to find any sort of pickled, canned or preserved lobster meat. Mrs Andrea dissects how to best dissect the lobster — which you must buy live and cook in salted water.

Exact quantities of jars and water needed, and time taken are not listed in this section, as it is likely to depend on the weight of the fish used. It is doubtful that anyone would want to go through this process today in order to make some canned fish — but interesting to see how it was, even in 1915, considered an essential and common way to consume fish.