Fill can to within 1/2 inch from the top with boiling brine made of 5 gallons of water and 1 pound of salt.  Sterilize.

CLAM BROTH AND CHOWDER

Place the clams, after being opened, in a kettle with enough cold water to cover.  Add a few stalks of celery.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Season with salt, and pepper to taste and add 1 tablespoon butter to every 50 or 60 large clams.  Can.  Clam chowder can be made according to any recipe and then canned.

SHRIMPS

Shrimps when first caught are a grayish white color.  They are very delicate and spoil quickly if allowed to stand for any length of time in a warm place.  There are two general methods of canning shrimp—­the “dry pack” and “wet pack.”  Nearly all the trade now calls for “wet pack” because the other always has a rather offensive odor and the meat is never so fresh and sweet of flavor as the “wet pack.”  Canned shrimp is very pleasing to the taste and is preferred by many to lobster for salads and stews.

Wet Pack.  Medium sizes are preferable as very large shrimps are apt to be too tough and too dry.  Put the shrimps into a wire scalding basket and lower into a boiling hot salt water solution made by mixing one pound of salt to each gallon of water.  Allow the shrimps to remain in this bath for about five minutes, then remove and drain thoroughly.

Peel and remove viscera (entrails).  The boiling and the salt will harden the meat and make the peeling comparatively easy.  Pack into enameled tin cans or glass jars.  Nos. 1 and 11/2 cans are used almost exclusively.  These sizes should contain 41/2 oz and 9 ounces of meat respectively.  It is unsafe to put in more meat than above directed, for it might cake and become solid when processed.

Add a very mild brine to within 1/2 inch from top of can.  For the brine use 1 teaspoonful salt to 1 quart of boiling water.  Sterilize.

Dry Pack.  Handle same as above, except do not pour into the cans any brine.  The fish is packed in the cans and processed as follows without the addition of any liquor.

Drying of Shrimps.  After shrimps are boiled and peeled they may be dried.  Spread on a drier of any kind and dry at a temperature of from 110 deg.F. to 150 deg.F.  When thoroughly dry pack in dry clean glass jars or in parchment-paper lined boxes.

SALMON

Scale fish, clean and wipe dry.  Do not wash.  If the fish are large cut in lengths to fill the cans and in sizes to pass through can openings easily.  Salmon is usually packed in No. 1 cans or in flat cans.  Fill cans with fish after it has been blanched 5 minutes and cold dipped.  Sterilize as other fish.

Many salmon packers lacquer the outside of their cans to prevent rusting.  This is a very advisable point.  The test for unsound salmon is the nose.  If the contents issue an offensive odor, it is unsound.  Freezing does not hurt canned salmon.