Cleaning and icing or freezing your catch of the day as soon as possible is the first thing you should do with it. The four most popular methods of fish preservation are freezing, canning, smoking and pickling.
Top-quality fresh fish are essential for fish preservation. Of all flesh foods, fish is the most susceptible to tissue decomposition, development of rancidity and microbial spoilage. To avoid getting sick from food and to make a good meal, it’s important to handle fish safely.
Catching fresh fish while camping or hiking is one of life’s great pleasures. However, fresh fish quickly spoils if not preserved properly. So what is the best way to preserve your catch while in the wilderness? In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the most effective techniques for preserving fish without refrigeration.
Why Preserving Fish is Important
Fish meat decomposes extremely quickly due to its high protein content According to experts, fish meat deteriorates up to 200 times faster than beef! That’s why it’s crucial to preserve fish as soon as possible after catching it. Otherwise, that beautiful trout you worked hard to reel in could become inedible within hours
Preserving your catch allows you to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can stretch your fresh fish over multiple meals and avoid waste. Plus, preserved fish often takes on new flavors and textures offering culinary variety. With the right techniques, you can enjoy tasty preserved fish for days weeks, or even months after catching it.
7 Best Ways to Preserve Fish in the Wild
Here are the top techniques for preserving fish without refrigeration while camping, backpacking, or surviving in the wilderness:
1. Keep Fish Alive
This method provides the highest quality fish, but doesn’t have a long shelf life. You can keep fish alive in a submerged net, basket, or stringer. Just be sure to dispatch and clean the fish soon after catching them. Keeping fish alive preserves freshness for up to 24 hours.
2. Freeze Fish
Freezing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to preserve fish long-term. It stops bacteria growth and enzyme activity that causes spoilage. Clean and fillet the fish, then wrap tightly in plastic or foil. Freeze for 2-6 months depending on fat content.
3. Dry Fish
Drying (dehydrating) fish preserves it by removing moisture that bacteria need to grow. You can air dry fish outside on racks or hang it near a smoky fire. Salt or brine fish first for better preservation. Dried fish keeps for weeks in a cool, dry place.
4. Smoke Fish
Smoking dries and cooks fish while adding flavorful smoke. Lean fish should be brined 4-12 hours before smoking. Smoke fish for hours until flaky when pierced. Smoked fish keeps for 1-2 weeks refrigerated.
5. Pickle Fish
Pickling fish in vinegar or brine adds flavor and acidity to inhibit bacteria. Always brine fish for an hour before pickling. Refrigerate pickled fish and use within 3-4 weeks.
6. Salt-Cure Fish
Heavily salt-curing fish draws out moisture so bacteria can’t grow. Use a dry salt cure or wet brine cure before drying and smoking fish. Salted fish keeps for months but requires thorough rinsing before eating.
7. Can Fish
Canning cooked fish in sealed jars sterilizes and preserves it for storage without refrigeration. Only use a pressure canner for low-acid fish. Canned fish keeps for 1-5 years but requires diligent sanitation.
4 Tips for Successful Fish Preservation
Follow these tips to safely preserve your fresh catch:
- Clean and fillet fish ASAP after catching them.
- Keep fish as cold as possible until preserving them.
- Remove bloodlines, tails, heads, and excess fat before preserving fillets.
- Use sanitized equipment and containers when brining, smoking, canning, etc.
Expert Tips for Each Preservation Method
Freezing
- Freeze fish at 0°F or below for longest shelf life.
- Glaze fish in ice water or lemon juice before freezing for best texture.
- Wrap fish tightly in plastic wrap or foil to prevent freezer burn.
Drying
- Slice fish thinly into 1/8-inch strips for best drying.
- Add salt or sodium nitrate to prevent bacteria growth when drying.
- Keep dried fish in cool, dry place sealed in plastic or glass.
Smoking
- Soak hardwood chips/chunks in water before adding to smoker.
- Keep smoker temperature between 150-200°F.
- Smoke fish until flesh flakes easily with a fork.
Pickling
- Use 5% acidity distilled white vinegar for pickling fish.
- Refrigerate pickled fish. Use within 4-6 weeks for best flavor.
- Add whole spices like peppercorns, bay leaves, and coriander seeds.
Canning
- Only use pressure canner, NOT boiling water bath, for fish.
- Pressure cook pint jars at 11-15 PSI for 100 mins.
- Clean jars, lids, and equipment thoroughly before canning.
Preserving fish allows you to enjoy the wild bounty of your successful fishing trips for days, weeks, or months after catching it. Freezing, drying, smoking, pickling, salt-curing, and canning are all effective methods for preserving your fresh catch in the wilderness without refrigeration. Follow these safe preservation guidelines and tips to keep your fish tasting its best.
The next time you reel in an impressive string of trout deep in the mountains or hook a monster catfish at your secret fishing hole, you’ll know exactly how to preserve it. You worked hard for that catch – now prolong that experience and make those fish last. Preserve your fish properly so you can keep savoring the fruits of your outdoor labor long after you’ve returned home from the wilderness.
Keep freshly caught fish alive as long as possible
Monitored live wells or mesh baskets kept underwater keep fish alive longer than a stringer. Plaque- and slime-making bacteria are on all fish, and they quickly spread on a dead fish kept in warm surface water. Fish begin to deteriorate as soon as they leave the water.
General USDA method for canning fish without sauce
** This includes blue, mackerel, salmon, steelhead, trout and other fatty fish except tuna.
Clean and gut fish within two hours after catching. Keep cleaned fish on ice until ready to can.
Note: Glass-like crystals of magnesium ammonium phosphate sometimes form in canned salmon. There’s nothing a home canner can do to stop these crystals from forming, but they usually melt when heated, so you can eat them.
- Remove head, tail, fins and scales.
- Wash and remove all blood.
- Split fish lengthwise, if desired.
- Cut cleaned fish into 3 ½ inch lengths.
- Put the skin side of the fruit in pint jars next to the glass and fill them up, leaving an inch of headspace.
- Do not add liquids.
- Adjust lids and process.
- Dial-gauge pressure canner. Pints – 100 minutes 11 PSI.
- Weighted-gauge pressure canner. Pints – 100 minutes 15 PSI.
Heat fish to boiling temperatures for 10 minutes before tasting or serving. For canning fish in quart jars see Canning Fish in Quart Jars from University of Alaska Cooperative Extension.
Pickling is an easy method of preserving fish. Pickled fish should be kept in the fridge at a temperature of no more than 40 degrees F, and it tastes best when eaten within 4 to 6 weeks. Pickling is only used to preserve a few types of fish for sale, but you can pickle almost any kind of fish at home.
To make safe home-pickled fish, the first thing that needs to be done is to kill the broad fish tapeworm larvae, which are parasites that can infect people. Its most common in northern pike, but is found in several Minnesota fish. See the section below for methods to destroy the tapeworm larvae.
Survival Instructor Teaches How to Preserve Meat in Wilderness: Survival Food Rations
How do you preserve fish?
Salt lakes are another option. They can be treated like any other saltwater source and be evaporated down to collect the salt. Dehydrating and drying fish is one of the oldest and simplest ways to preserve fish. This technique removes the water and makes it less likely that microbes will be able to spoil your fish.
Can You preserve fish in the wild?
Fishing is one of the easiest and efficient ways to get food when you’re in a survival situation. This means that having a way to preserve fish in the wild can allow you to keep that meat around for days, weeks, or even months. You can preserve fish in the…
How do you preserve salt cured fish?
Salt cured fish has one major drawback compared to other preservation methods…all the salt. Desalt the fish using these steps: Rinse the fish in clean water. Place the fish in a bowl of clean cool water for 12 hours. Rinse the fish again and soak it in clean water for another 12 hours.
How do you keep fish from spoiling?
Thorough cleaning of the body cavity and chilling of the fish will prevent spoilage. Fish spoilage occurs rapidly at summer temperatures; spoilage is slowed down as freezing temperatures are approached. Ice is the key to fresh-tasting fish. Pack cleaned fish in a cooler of one pound of crushed ice for every two pounds of fish.