Dried fish are preserved through natural processes using the main ingredient of salt. We call this dry fish is Eungkot Masen (salted fish). The fish is processed from fresh fish purchased from landing harbor of Lhokseudu fish and its surroundings. That is the description given by the owner of the dried fish business in Layeun, Aceh Besar, on the roadside of Banda Aceh-Meulaboh.
From that, I'm interested to explore some websites that examine the chemical content contained in salt to serve as a preservative.
Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of seawater and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms. (1)
Salt is also known as sodium chloride, a chemical compound with a molecular formula of NaCl, functioning to give a salty taste. The use of salt as a preservative is usually known as salting for the prevention of decay.
Salt is used in two primary ways to preserve foods, either in granule form or in brine, which is a salt-and-water solution. A ham, for example, might be cured with salt, and cucumbers are preserved (and turned into pickles) with brine. Curing with salt granules, known as dry curing, means applying salt to the outside of a cut of meat and storing it for several weeks. It's one of the most ancient ways of curing meats. Modern curing can involve injecting meat with salt brine. (2)
The main reference to which reference is U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information. If you are interested? Please visit the website. Here I quote from there.
Chemical Names: Sodium chloride; 7647-14-5; Salt; Table salt; Halite; Saline More...
Molecular Formula: NaCl or ClNa
Molecular Weight: 58.44 g/mol (3)
Sodium chloride is a ubiquitous sodium salt that is commonly used to season food. (4)
Sodium Chloride is a metal halide composed of sodium and chloride with sodium and chloride replacement capabilities. When depleted in the body, sodium must be replaced in order to maintain intracellular osmolarity, nerve conduction, muscle contraction and normal renal function. (5)
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A white crystalline solid. Commercial grade usually contains some chlorides of calcium and magnesium which absorb moisture and cause caking. (NTP, 1992) (6)
Footnotes:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chloride
- https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/salt-prevent-food-from-spoiling.htm
- https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5234#section=Top
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68012965
- https://ncit.nci.nih.gov/ncitbrowser/ConceptReport.jsp?dictionary=NCI_Thesaurus&version=17.12d&ns=ncit&code=C29974&key=n228842024&b=1&n=null
- https://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/21014
Here are the photos of Eungkot Masen, taken at a salted fish outlet in Layeun, Aceh Besar.
Photographs of my work are allowed to be exploited by anyone here.
Presented for free to the community.