Characteristics, habitat and nutritional properties
The herring, or Clupea harengus, is a pelagic "blue" fish of the Clupeidae family. It lives in large schools that populate only the coastal areas of the North Atlantic Ocean (Iceland, Greenland, North America, Northern Europe [especially Holland and Norway] etc.); curiously, during the herring fishing it is not uncommon to encounter a large specimen "abyssal" (1500 meters deep) commonly called "King of the Herring".
The herring reproduces constantly throughout the year and each specimen lays up to 40,000 eggs; this fish mainly feeds on invertebrates, crustaceans, molluscs, eggs and larvae. Herring is a very important fish for the marine food balance of its habitat, as it represents the main source of food for seals, birds, squid, sharks and many other fish.
Historically, the herring fishery has proved to be a "backbone" of the Nordic diet of Eastern Europe; to this day, it is still fished to be eaten fresh or preserved (salted or marinated), but the levels of diffusion and consumption they are not remotely comparable with the medieval ones. In Italy, herring is well known but extremely underrated compared to other species of "blue" fish, while in Holland it represents the progenitor of national cuisine and is served in all possible ways: smoked, marinated or raw.
Although historical research shows that herring has been consumed abundantly since ancient times (3000 BC), the commercialization and export of this fish only blossomed in the 14th century, thanks to the fisherman Willem Bueckelszoon who discovered the conservative methods of drying. and smoking.
Herring is a fairly inexpensive peach product and very rich from a nutritional point of view; it has an excellent supply of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids and in particular of alpha-linolenic acid (exponent of the omega3 family).
Nutritional values of Herring per 100g of edible portion
See also:
- Nutritional values Atlantic herring
- Nutritional values Pacific herring
- Nutritional values Herring fillet (Alaska) in oil
How to cook herring
As already mentioned, herring is a fish that can also be eaten raw, as long as the principles of healthiness of the fish are respected. The pathogen that typically infests herring meat is l "anisakis; it is a parasite that can colonize the intestine of the living animal and that post-morten has the ability to migrate towards meat. The preventive measures to be taken are:
- Immediate and accurate evisceration (removing the entrails without releasing the contents
- The lowering of temperature.
The cold (-18 ° C) and hot (cooking) heat treatments guarantee the killing of any anisakis larvae present in the herring.
Recipes with herring
- Appetizer Of Herring
- Grapefruit Herring
- Herring All "opera
- Calabrese herring
- Norwegian Herring With Potato Salad
- Herring In Salad
- Marinated Herring
- Marinated Herring
- Herring Fillets With Onions
- Herring Flan
- Stegt Sild I Eddike
- Herring Salad With Red Beets
- Marinade Of Herring
- Operakallarens Stromming
- Herring Flans
- Raphael appetizer
