FREEZING POULTRY FOR EXPORTATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4494, 14 August 1875, Page 2 (Supplement)

FREEZING POULTRY FOR EXPORTATION.

The attempt which is being made in Sydney to perfect a process of freezing meat for exportation gives a sjfecial interest to the following' description from the Daily Td&jraph of how the poultry trade between America and England is now carried on —“A trade in foreign , game aud poultry,” says the paper referred to, “ has rapidly grown up within the past few years, and experience has almost solved that problem of food preservation wherein science is as yet at fault. For instance, the poulterers who are consigners of birds from America receive great numbers of casks in which are now packed, with perfect safety, vast quantities of game that would inevitably have been spoiled if the same thing had been attempted with imperfect .knowledge a few years ago. The prairie-bird, a species of capercailzie, which has the feathers down the legs, and which, gastronomers have declared, has the hitter backbone so highly esteemed in the true grouse, comes across the Atlantic with little or no injury from the voyage, though, it must bo granted, with some little sacrifice of tenderness by the method of preparation for packing. 'This is, to take the bird fresh and to freeze it to the very middle. Thousands upon thousands are passed into freezing-houses artfully constructed for the purpose. When quite stiff aud hard they aro taken out, wrapped in coarse paper like bottles of champagne, and packed carefully in barrels. The paper plays a very important part in the business. In the first place it is a non-conductor, and it therefore assists in the isolation of each bird, so that when the barred is opened at the end of a fortuig'ht’s voyage the contents have positively not begun to thaw. Then .again the wrappage keeps the feathers smooth, aud tho birds, being mure sightly, find a better sale. It is sjiid, indeed, that a shilling a brace, or more, is the difference between prairie fowl which have boon wrapped iu paper and those which have not. As for the freezing process itself, something of the same kind has been an old

practice in Russia and Canada for home purposes, and tho Russians know well that the best way of thawing tho frozen birds is to begin by putting them iu cold water. A more delicate bird than tho prairie fowl, namely tlie Virginia quail, is brought to English markets in the same manner as that we have described iu tho ease of the prairie hen, which, by the by, is sometimes culled—with sad ignorance of natural history—the Canadian pheasant. Epicures may Mieee at both thebe dainties

but they would not sneer at either were they to taste them skilfully prepared in Now York or Montreal. Even here, after the freezing process, tire packing, and the sea voyage, a housewife with a quick eye for the signs that make or mar a bird for cooking will be able to pick out a plump young brace from a row of these prairie bens in front of a poulterer's shop. Meanwhile the market, which is no doubt destined to aid in popularising these exotic luxuries, makes way towards readiness for its mission. Up to the present time the outlay has been .€93,000 ; aud wo believe that the round sum of €250,000 will bo about tbo ultimate cost of this woll-plauued poultry market.”