Solbac Export AS, P.O. Box 5100 Larsgaarden, N-6021 Aalesund, Norway.
Phone: +47 70 13 05 00/ Telefax:  +47 70 13 05 03
Solbac Export AS, P.O. Box 5100 Larsgaarden, N-6021 Aalesund, Norway.
  Phone: +47 70 13 05 00/ Telefax:  +47 70 13 05 03
    The production of salt fish dates back at least 500 years, to the time of the European
    discoveries of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. It formed a vital item of international
    commerce between the New World and the Old, and formed one leg of the so-called
    triangular trade. Thus it spread around the Atlantic and became a traditional ingredient
    not only in Northern European cuisine, but also in Mediterranean, West African,
    Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines.

    The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a
    storage life of several years. Drying preserves many nutrients and is said to make the
    codfish tastier.The method was cheap, the work could be done by the fisherman or his
    family, and the resulting product was easily transported to market. Salting became
    economically feasible during the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe
    became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe.

     Traditionally, salt cod was dried only by the wind and the sun, hanging on wooden
    scaffolding or lying on clean cliffs or rocks near the seaside.