Easy Hunter Gatherer Techniques | Carp: It's What's For Dinner (Vlog)
Today at Mountain Jewel I am processing carp and taking advantage of their short spawning season.
Carp: Queen of Rivers or Pig With Fins?
In the early 1600s, Izaak Walton, the granddaddy of thoughtful anglers, devoted a chapter of his book The Compleat Angler to carp:
The Carp is the Queen of Rivers: a stately, good and very subtle fish. The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, will grow to a very great bigness and length; I have heard, to be much above a yard long.
He is a very subtle fish, and hard to be caught. If you will fish for a Carp, you must put on a very large measure of patience, especially to fish for a River-Carp.
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This is an abundant and underutilized food source here in Southern Missouri that we are happy to put to good use. The common carp is an introduced species in our area, and has since become invasive.
The carp is considered by many North Americans to be a coarse, or rough, fish. It has a reputation of being dirty, ugly, and stupid. It is thought of as solely a bottom feeder, an inhabitant of filthy, stagnant, water that is not suitable for finer fish.
What most people don’t know is that common carp were brought to North America on purpose. A native of Asia, the carp is the third most introduced species and is now present in nearly every part of the world.
Commonly used as a food fish throughout Europe for centuries, carp were brought to North America as an easy source of food by settlers. In 1896, an area near Newmarket, Ontario flooded and the carp in the ponds there were able to escape into the Holland River, which allowed their entry into the Great Lakes. Once there, their spread across Eastern North America was only a matter of time.
We got the fish from a local guide who takes folks bow fishing during the carp spawn and who I went out with last year during Homestead Rescue with Matt Raney.
Boat Matt & I went out on last year with the guides
In this vlog I talk a little about the fish and the process we're going through to preserve this fish for later eating. We'll also share a future blog around some more details of the process.
We brought home 3 coolers full of fish and we filleted them all and set them to soak in a brine (1 pound salt per gallon water). Later we will smoke them and pressure can them so they will be shelf stable.
Here's another person who has written about exactly what we've done today!:
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We're excited to share this with y'all as we're thrilled about eating invasive species. Till next time, Steemit you rock and you are our favorite blogging/vlogging platform ;) We love you!!! Blockchain for the WIN!!!
Also, curious for any of you around the world: Do you eat carp? I hear it's popular in other areas. Let us know!!
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Hey guys
Well it certainly makes sense to go for these invasive types that are in abundance whilst gathering your food. It does look like a pretty hands on process, and one that you will need a good bar of soap for when you are all done!
Fish for a year on a days work though, pretty epic!
It certainly makes sense to us @abh12345! So glad you can appreciate where we're coming from. It's super hands on just like most good things in life. hahah soap indeed although we use liquid Dr. Bronners... Getting messy is almost always a good idea.
Honestly though, being intimate with the processes of meeting our needs is one of THE most connected and important parts of our lives. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. The time invested will be appreciated by our future selves.
Wow, look forward to sampling this goodie! Alot of fish! Whew! lol
We will be overjoyed to share it with you. It's A LOT of food coming out of this lake. We may even go back next week for more. Started at 8 and haven't finished yet, but it will all be worth it in the months the come. Perhaps most of all when we share it! can't wait for you to visit!
I saw on TV that they hunted cat fish by hand. The fishing is very excellent and enjoyable ..
wow, hand fishing is a whole 'nother level. I do think it does make a lot of sense to harvest the species that have really healthy population.
wow! incredibly cool. impressive size.
They really are HUGE fish and we are so grateful for the opportunity to enjoy them. especially because they are non natives that are in abundance.
When the river goes more shallow in the summer, there is a lot of small trout trapped and waiting to dry or to be eaten by animals. this year I plan to catch a lot and put them in my pool. Carp in Poland is number 1 christmas dish... it comes in many forms on 24th supper, which has no meat, but fish. upvoted
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I prefer saltwater fish as freshwater fish tastes kinda murky. In the Caribbean and parts of Florida the Lion Fish are also causing havoc. It's surmised that during a hurricane lion fish that were kept as pets in a fish tank got lose. There's a push to get people to eat it - similar to the carp situation.
@mikeycolon, I hear you on the fresh vs. salt water. The ocean are still fairly wild while most fresh water shows signs of domestication. The salt is such a purifying agent and always seems to be fresher... That said we live in MO which is quite a ways from the ocean so we work with what we got.
On the lion fish topic, I can totally see the merit in hunting them, There's a great podcast which has numerous episodes surrounding eating invasives and specifically focused on eating invasives which you may find interesting. I would highly recommend you to check it out as it has been very impactful in my understanding of where ecology and meeting human needs intersect.
Didn't they serve carp on Duck Dynasty when the restaurant ran out of fish? Regardless, that's cool you were able to get fish for a year. Looking forward to seeing more on the process of canning them.
Haven't seen the Duck dynasty, but am stoked to eat good food! It only makes sense to make good use of what ANY ecosystem has to offer. Happy to hear that you're interested and we will be posting once we've process more of the jars. Got a batch in the pressure canner and some fillets smoking right now! Stay tuned.
Congratulation mountainjewel! Your post has appeared on the hot page after 28min with 27 votes.
Thanks for exercising patient & for the business idea, also for carrying other people along.