At Matís, work is beginning on a project entitled: "New production process for the production of Lútfiskur". The project is funded by the AVS Fisheries Research Fund and will be carried out by Fram Foods, which has a large market share in lye fish in the Nordic countries.
Lute fish is a very special product based on centuries-old methods and we used to preserve raw materials. The raw material is dried down to about 15-16% moisture and there is about 80% utilization loss during drying. The dried raw material is stored until the autumn until processing takes place, which is from the end of September until mid-December. In a conventional processing process, the fillets are soaked, then bent and rinsed, which causes the weight of the fillets to multiply. During bending, the acidity of the product rises a lot and they can therefore absorb a lot of water, which is the explanation for the expansion of the fish during bending. Finally, the fillets are cut into pieces and packed in 1 kg vacuum units.
Some believe that lye fish dates back to the Viking Age, while others believe that lye fish first appeared in the 16th century in the Netherlands and soon found its way to the Nordic countries, where consumption is highest today. The total Nordic market for lye fish is estimated at 5,200 tonnes. Of this, 2,200 tonnes of cod are in Norway, 2,500 tonnes of ling in Sweden and 500 tonnes of ling in Finland. Consumption is traditional and almost exclusively for Christmas, but something is eaten from lye fish at Easter. When consumed, the fish pieces are boiled and served with boiled potatoes, peppers and green beans, not unlike ham. As such, the fish has a very special texture that resembles boiled egg whites and is tasteless after the effect and there is something about flavors such as mustard or bacon being added to the sauce, or as a side dish
The idea behind the research project is to seek more flexibility in production by shortening the production time, so that the supermarkets can be offered a fresher product by shortening the processing time.
The project manager is Hörður G. Kristinsson, department manager at Matís.