Barrel-salted herring (gutted at sea)
Arenque salado en barril (eviscerado en el mar)
- Date
- c. 1380 · confidence low
- Place
- Biervliet, Zeeland, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Willem Beukelszoon and Flemish and Dutch fishermen
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Fishermen removed the gills and part of the guts of the herring on board and salted it in barrels, which preserved it for months. It underpinned the Dutch herring fishery and export trade of the 15th century.
The invention is attributed to Willem Beukelszoon (d. 1397), an almost legendary figure; salting herring is older and the improvement may have been gradual and collective.
What it led to
- fleet of herring busses and the Dutch maritime boom
- cheap protein for cities and Lent
- competition with the Hanseatic League