Birdseye 2012 page 7

Birdseye 2012 page 7 by ric gustafson


The first frozen fish patent was awarded to Enoch Piper in 1862. He froze salmon under pans of ice and salt. After 24 hours, he dipped them in water for a glassy sheen. Small frozen fish operations began to spring up in coastal New England. Fish became the choice of frozen food experiments because it was the most difficult food to freeze. Frozen food production began in the Great Lakes and spread to the Pacific Northwest.
The first industrial freezer was the Ottoson brine freezer. Food was submerged in a brine solution at the freezing point. In 1921, Paul Peterson built the first indirect freezer. In 1923, Gordon Taylor developed the first freezer in which fish moved on a conveyor belt under cold water and then frozen with brine.
In 1923, Clarence started his own frozen fish company in New York for $20,000. He called his company Birdseye Seafoods. He cleaned fish, chilled them but did not freeze them and then shipped them in boxes. He quickly learned that the packaging was inadequate. He also figured out that the food not only did not freeze fast enough but that it wasn't cold enough.
Clarence experimented with calcium chloride in a solution that quickly dropped the temperature to -45 degrees Fahrenheit. He discovered fast freezing by letting the temperature drop from 33 degrees to 23 degrees and use small amounts of crystals.
In 1924, Clarence's quick frozen fish went on the market for the first time.


research help: ' Birdseye' by Mark Kurlansky


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric