Brine (Bechoros 23)
Oct 11, 2026 · 2 min · 3 segments
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Henry AbramsonHost
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Oct 11, 2026 · 2 min · 3 segments
Henry AbramsonHost
It's actually brine, which is, uh, the heavily salted water that is used in the processing of fish.
And depending on how this is put together, uh, it can actually be liquefied fish itself because the fish, uh, if they're exposed to salt water for a very long time, actually become, you know, essentially like kind of like a soupy mixture, which can then be used like as anchovy butter and kinds of things like that.
But let's have a very quick lo-- quick look at the role of fish in diet and specifically how salted fish was used.
Um, although it's interesting to note that fresh fish was actually quite a bit of a delicacy and was reserved for the most part for higher level people with, um, greater amounts of disposable wealth.
Um, most people ate a lot more dried fish or salted fish, which could be produced in two different ways.
You could either dry it with salt over a very long time until finally it was, it was-- could be preserved for extensive periods of time without refrigeration, of course, which wouldn't exist for quite a while.
Um, or you could salt it very lightly, and that would extend its life at least until Kiddush, uh, where you would have like, you know, like herring and things like that, where it would last a little longer without refrigeration, but there's no way it would last, uh, for a very long time.
So most people ate dried fish, and for more, uh, important occasions, they would have salted fish, lightly salted fish, and, uh, only the wealthier people would get to have a large amount of fresh fish in their diet.
Here's a picture of an ancient, uh, Roman fish factory where you can see the actual remnants of where they would put the fish in, uh, in vats that was filled with brine, with this tzir.
Uh, and here's actually a, an artistic reproduction of what that must have looked like.
It's actually brine, which is, uh, the heavily salted water that is used in the processing of fish.
And depending on how this is put together, uh, it can actually be liquefied fish itself because the fish, uh, if they're exposed to salt water for a very long time, actually become, you know, essentially like kind of like a soupy mixture, which can then be used like as anchovy butter and kinds of things like that.
But let's have a very quick lo-- quick look at the role of fish in diet and specifically how salted fish was used.
Um, although it's interesting to note that fresh fish was actually quite a bit of a delicacy and was reserved for the most part for higher level people with, um, greater amounts of disposable wealth.
Um, most people ate a lot more dried fish or salted fish, which could be produced in two different ways.
You could either dry it with salt over a very long time until finally it was, it was-- could be preserved for extensive periods of time without refrigeration, of course, which wouldn't exist for quite a while.
Um, or you could salt it very lightly, and that would extend its life at least until Kiddush, uh, where you would have like, you know, like herring and things like that, where it would last a little longer without refrigeration, but there's no way it would last, uh, for a very long time.
So most people ate dried fish, and for more, uh, important occasions, they would have salted fish, lightly salted fish, and, uh, only the wealthier people would get to have a large amount of fresh fish in their diet.
Here's a picture of an ancient, uh, Roman fish factory where you can see the actual remnants of where they would put the fish in, uh, in vats that was filled with brine, with this tzir.
Uh, and here's actually a, an artistic reproduction of what that must have looked like.
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