Nature’s Way of Preserving Fresh Fish

This is a guest post by Pooja Srivastava

I had gone for picnic with a small group of friends while spending holidays in Ladakh. A small group of children went to explore the picnic spot along with Dad’s friends.  We would carry some food and refreshments and be away for hours till lunch was ready to eat.

On this particular day we were picnicking near a small river. We decided to explore the place by walking further along the bank.

After walking for an hour or so we came across a solitary fisherman sitting by the side of the river. We were all excited seeing a local there, we greeted him loudly saying ''Juley''(the only Ladakhi word we knew) and were curious to know whether we could speak to him using a little of Hindi and English.

All of us took turns to ask him how he caught fish, how much fish he caught everyday and how much time he spent there. He explained that he fished regularly during the summers and even a small catch of fish, for which he spent about two hours, was enough to feed his family of four. The man looked a little poor and it seemed the fish was a welcome addition to the family meal.

One of us asked, how he preserved the fish at home (he didn’t look like he owned a fridge at home).

That is when I made one of the greatest discoveries of my life. Until then we thought like the most of you, the only way to preserve fresh fish was in a refrigerator.

What he showed us, amazed us.

He asked us that his fridge was right there and took us along to a shallow portion of the river. There he moved away some moist sand and showed us a handful of fish he had saved. He said, the fish could be preserved for two to three days, even without cleaning and it would remain fresh. That he said, was nature’s way of keeping fish fresh.

Pooja Srivastava is a Special Education & School Teaching Expert based in India.