Dry Smell Fish- A Intangible Cultural Heritage in Penghu

Preface

The Living in Penghu islands is closely associated with environmental impacts including topography and climate conditions. The flat topographic terrain in Penghu makes very low in rainfall, and causes dry soil depletion. Moreover, there is northeast monsoon long-lasting for more than 5 months, and this season wind carries high salty moisture leads in poor cultivation for crops. However, Penghu islands are located at the converge of China Longshore Current and Kuroshio Current. The mix of warn and cold currents gather productive plankton creatures that provide numerous quantities of food resources for fishes.

Most of the people resided in Penghu make a living as fishermen since ancient times. There are abundant catches during fishing seasons. Nevertheless, as long as the northeast monsoon begins, fishing activities are almost stagnant, and food consumption becomes a big issue to local people in Penghu. Hence, since there were no modern cold storage facilities such as refrigerators at the distant past, The ancestors applied simple elementary methods, such drying or curing procedure, to preserve fishes for food resources during off-seasons. The early residents merged their acknowledge and experiences to be against harsh environmental situations, and so a unique eating- habit intangible cultural heritage had been formed imperceptibly.

What is the Small fish?

The big-eye-sardine (Etrumeus Micropus), so called smell fish by local people in Penghu, is a migratory species of fish, with slim shape and glossy sliver body appearance. It is crowd gathering around Penghu area from mid-May to early October. More than 1.5 thousand tons of big-eye-sardine is caught in Penghu islands, and accounts for more than 95% total catches in Taiwan. Dry small fish products turn into one of the major traditional processed marine products in Penghu. Since there is a high amount of moisture in big-eye-sardine, it makes fish putridity easily. The putrescence results from deterioration of protein and fat contents in fish during unappropriated handling and storage, and a strong stinky SMELL is released. Therefore, big-eye-sardine is treated with drying or salting processing for the purpose of long-term storage. 

The smell fish is a highly nutritious marine fish with a great amount of unsaturated fatty acid, including EPA and DHA which are 10% and 25% of fish oil, respectively. These nutrient components are benefits to blood circulation, thrombus suppression, myocardial infarction prevention, and brain development facilitation.

Dry smell fish products sold in Taiwan are typically manufactured in Penghu, especially at Shi-Li Village and Qi-Mei Township. In spite of their sharing the same names of end products, there are significant differences in manufacture methods and taste quality between products from Shi-Li Village and Qi-Mei Township. 

Explore and Have Funs in Drying Fish at Shi-li Village 

A school of junior students rode their motorbikes along the County Road 201, and were all way down to the south of Penghu main island. They carried out USR course and practical assignment for dry small fish. As they were close to journey's end, they not only sensed rich fishy scent in the air, but also slivery shine dry fishes were caught by their eyes. A taste of fishing village life stared at that moment. They interviewed two remarkable specialties, Mr. Wu-Tong Cai who is the chief of Shi-Li Village, and Mr. Zong-lu Chen who is the owner of the largest drying fish plant. Under supervision and assistance of two skilled professionals, these junior students personally experienced practical traditional inherited drying techniques that passed down generations to generations. 

The transformation of fresh fish into a dry product is a series of cumbersome scheme. The junior students and specialties went to fish port to collect tones of big-eye sardine before day break. After fish transported to drying plants, it was cured in high concentration salt pickle. Then, salty fish was laid flat down on bamboo sieves, and piled one sieve above another sieve prior to steaming cook. After cooked fish was cooling down, it was placed on an open outdoor square for solarization. The drying end point was judged by fish textural property. The drying time might last 1.5 day to 3 days depending on the weather condition. Finally, dry small fish was sorted and packaged before marketing. 

Taste Mouthful Flavored Dry Smell Fish at Qi-Mei Township

A group of students, whom took a USR liberal course, practiced a fieldwork studying for current state of dry smell fish at Qi-Mei township. There is about 2.5 hours sailing from Penghu main island to Qi-Mei off-island. Dry smell fish processed at Qi-Mei township is totally different from those made in Penghu main island. These students first visited Township Mayor, Mr. Qi-jun Lv, to explore the historical background of smell fish industry. Also, these enthusiastic young students interview Director Huang-Bao Zhu, the inventor of innovative dry smell fish processing. Director Zhu now is in charge The Fisherman Association at Qi-Mei subdivision, and he ceaselessly improves dry smell fish quality since a decade ago. He found that smell fish cured with salt as well as some herbs and seasoning could bring dry product more pleasant flavors. These flavors and aromas in dry fish after fried or baked create wonderful mouthfeel to consumers. Director Zhu passed these advanced procedures and formulations to local producers, and the flavored dry smell fish is developed to a unique and famous dry fish product at Qi-Mei township.

Provide Assistances in Preservation Dry Small Fish Intangible Cultural Heritage

Global warming and environmental changes severely impact marine resources, and cause marine resource depletion year by year. Aging population growth and adulthood manpower loss result in fishing yields dramatically decreasing in Penghu. The environmental as well as economical changes impact lifestyles at most fishing villages in Penghu. Young residents lived in Penghu either at city sides or fishing villages are not familiar with dry smell fish processing. The intangible cultural heritage of dry smell fish is fading away little by little.

The USR project takes Shi-Li village and Qi-Mei township as practical Implementing fields for linking USR courses. Project student-participants were in-depth exploration of dry fish-eating culture heritage at Penghu local areas. Students recognize fishing port lifestyle with verbal and image documents to make the intangible cultural asset traceable. Students designed innovative packages and cuisines novelty and progressive to make fish goods valuable. Students revised drying processing with scientific and hygienic procedures to make dry fish products reliable. The outcomes of this project provide strong connections between the National Penghu University of Science and Technology and Penghu local communities. Moreover, student-participants not only can improve their professional employability, but also can pay more attentions and cares at their hometown communities in the near future.