Understanding of salted fish is a fish that gets a certain treatment to be a food ingredient in the presence of a mixture of salt. Fish as a food that contains high protein and contains essential amino acids required by the body, in addition to its biological value reaches 90%, with a little connective tissue so easily digested. Fish is an easy export commodity to decompose compared to meat, fruit and vegetable products. Decay in fish occurs because some of the weakness of fish that is fish body contains high water content (76%) and pH of the body close to neutral, thus facilitating the growth of bacteria decaying, fish meat contains high-unsaturated fatty acids that are easy to experience the process of oxidation so often cause a rancid odor, connective tissue on fish meat is very little so quickly become soft and microorganisms quickly developed.
Because of some of the weaknesses, the producers do the inhibition of rottenness of fish by making environmental conditions that are not in accordance with the growth of microbes, so that microbes can be suppressed perumbuhanya. One way is done by the process of salting and drying which then the result of its production is called salted fish. The salted fish is produced from fresh fish ingredients or half-wet fish added salt15-20%. Although the water content in the fish body is still high 30-35%, but the salted fish can be stored for a long time due to the addition of relatively high salt.
To get salted fish quality of raw materials used must be of good quality, the salt used can be pure salt and clean white salt beryodium. The salt contains sodium chloride (NaCl) is quite high, which is about 95%. Common components mixed in salt are magnesium chloride (MgCl), calcium chloride (CaCl), magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), calcium sulphate (CaSO4), potassium iodate (KIO3).
If salt used in salting process contains magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) will inhibit the penetration of salt into fish meat, as a result fish meat is white, hard, brittle and bitter.