My house a mountain of salted fish.

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Come, welcome, and bless my dear readers, to this my writing space, thank you for being here, with your visit, I consider myself invited to your spaces as well, it is expected that it happens when I can.

Many years ago, when I was just in elementary school, my dear father was starting his business selling Salted Fish and Salted Fish; This took a whole process, which I remember the way I will tell you in these lines.

It is worth mentioning that first, he worked for other people, he sold the fish at retail in the market, with what he earned he supported us as he could sense it was not much. For a time he was seeing how everything had to be done so that he could be the one to invest and set up his own business.

My father, who worked with other gentlemen who trusted him, was in charge of collecting the fish from the company that shipped them. He was always a good person who earned the love and trust of those who knew him because he was very helpful and hard-working.

Thanks to his way of being, one of the owners of the company appreciated him so much that he began to finance small amounts of fish to make him work on his own and then pay him. Since Dad didn't have a place to process the fish, he would take it home.

I remember how trucks would arrive with these large tuna, sometimes more than a meter long. When the tuna boats arrived at the FIPACA company, they brought some of the broken fish and these were the ones that used to salt them, and that's when they told my dad to work on them. Well, as I was saying, those fish arrived at the house to be processed as they were in quantity, at the beginning of 100 or 200 kilos and there was no refrigerator to store them, as soon as they arrived they got down to work. It does not matter what time it was and many were the nights when they worked long hours.

The process consisted of receiving the fish at home, they came in yellow baskets for better storage, two workers were hired to help my father fix the fish, they opened it in half and then made some cuts on each side to make it more open. and finer, which would facilitate drying, they removed the guts, washed it, and then added a lot of grain salt or coarse salt on both sides. Once salted, they were placed in baskets to be weighed, then placed one on top of the other to be arranged in the patio of the house.

The next day very early the other part of the process was done, part of the fish was sold salty, that is, as it was in the first instance, fresh and salty. But the other process consisted of placing the remaining part in the sun. In the front of the house and even in the parking lot, cardboard and zinc sheets were placed where the salted fish was spread to dry. While he was in the market selling the salted fish, we took care of taking care of the fish and turning it around on both sides so that the sun would come in, since it was on the street and we had to prevent it from leaving. stolen, we would also help you pick it up when the sun had given it enough sun.

I remember that when there was enough fish, one called Tajalí, they used to make mountains of salted fish, in those days we had neither telephones nor cameras, but those images have not been erased from my memory.

Nor do I forget that my father used to get up very early to work from Monday to Monday. The sale of salted fish was his strong suit, he distributed it among the market retailers, sometimes he also sold it fresh, sometimes he also sold other species of the sea such as octopus, squid and shrimp, when they were requested and he did. the contacts to get them cheaper and to be able to resell them.

He did this practice practically until the last day of his life, since the last day he was active with his 5 senses he was working.

Today I tell you this story since this memory came to me because that man who for so many years was giving my father the fish on consignment, so that he would pay for it once he sold it, today after 4 months have passed since His Heartfelt departure, he sent two fish called Tuna to my mother's house, as a gift, that man was very fond of him and my father was very fond of him. My mom called me to go get it, it was divine, we boiled a little to crumble and cook it, we accompanied it with rice, banana slices and a passion fruit juice with carrots.

Fish is one of the edible animal species with the most variety, where I live is a fishing area and thank God it has always been present in our meals, it is a protein that provides us with a variety of nutrients and vitamins that are vital to our health. . I love them all, well the ones I've tried, but I know people who don't like them very much or of any kind, do you like fish, in which presentation do you like it the most? Roasted, fried, stewed, boiled, baked, there are so many species and ways to prepare them.

Salted fish is not very good to eat in large portions and not as often because it is unhealthy, especially for those with high blood pressure, as my dad used to, but he paid no attention to it. But salty fish in a sancocho is phenomenal with a good glass of wine and lots of lemons. Another way to eat salty fish was with tomato and onion salad, cassava and slices, with a refreshing drink like lemonade with plenty of ice, too rich.

Thank you for reading these lines that I write with nostalgia and a lot of love in honor of my dear father and his memory.

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God bless you always.

Credits.

This article is written in my own words, 100% original.

The images are from pixabay, they have their authors below.

The poster image is from   Marjolein van Zonneveld  on  Pixabay 

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@ leidimar011319