Food Trivia & Facts Section: FoodReference.com

 Also see: Articles and Kitchen Tips

FOOD FACTS & FOOD TRIVIA SHOES to SOUSE    •     Shoes and Shoe Sizes    •     Shoo-Fly Pie    •     Short Crust    •     Short & Shortening    •     Shoulder    •     Shrimp    •     Sieglinde Potato    •     Singapore    •     Skim Milk    •     Skirt Steak    •     Sliced Bread    •     Smallage    •     Smelt    •     Smithfield Ham    •     Smoked Foods    •     Smucker's    •     Snail Trivia    •     Sneezing    •     Snickers Candy Bar    •     Snood    •     Snowcap Beans    •     Soba Noodles    •     Soda Bread    •     Soft Drinks, Soda Pop    •     Sole Bonne Femme    •     Somen Noodles    •     Sorghum    •     Souffle    •     Soup    •     Sour Cream    •     Sourdough    •     Souse

POPULAR PAGES   Recipe Category Index   Culinary History Books   Poems About Food  Shop for Kitchen Tools  Cooking Basics  Local Food Festivals

SMELT

Smelt are any of about a dozen species of small (under 15 inches) silvery, oily fish in the Osmeridae family related to trout and salmon. They are found in cold northern waters, in the Atlantic, Pacific and most of the world's seas.


Smelt are characterized by a slender body and a small adipose (fleshy) fin on the dorsal surface of the body. They are mostly anadromous (migrating from saltwater to fresh water to spawn) but there are also marine and freshwater members.



Smelt have fine, delicate flesh and a mild, rich distinctive flavor, with a smell akin to cucumbers. Fresh smelt are generally eaten bones and all -- just breaded (or floured) and fried crisp.


A Pacific species, the eulachon or candlefish, are so oily at spawning time they can be dried and burned as candles.


Kelso, Washington, is known as the Smelt Capital of the World.


Smelt are also harvested commercially for use in the manufacture of fishmeal, for fertilizer and fish oil.