Fish belong to those products that are useful to eat, if not every day, then at least several times a week.
However, in addition to many useful properties, this seafood also has a specific smell, which many consider unpleasant.
When cooking fish, this smell spreads everywhere: it stays on your hands, towels, clothes, dishes, and penetrates all corners of the apartment, even if the cooker hood runs at full capacity.
Why does the fish smell so bad
The fishy smell that is familiar to every person does not appear immediately. When a fish is just caught from water, it has practically no smell - you can only feel the aroma of the reservoir in which it lived. A characteristic smell appears only when decomposition processes begin in it, and the more actively these processes occur, the stronger the fish smells. However, the presence of "darling" does not mean that the fish is unsuitable for eating. This is due to the structural features of the organism of marine inhabitants, from which there are three main causes of the appearance of smell:
1. Proteins that are part of fish meat are different from those types of proteins that are found in meat of terrestrial animals. They decompose much faster, and therefore decomposition products, such as ammonia and sulfur compounds, which have a sharp unpleasant odor, are formed within a few hours after removing the fish from the water. In addition, for bacteria found in fish and causing protein decomposition, even cold is not an obstacle, since cold sea water is their usual habitat. Therefore, to prevent the decomposition process, fish meat is stored at a lower temperature than meat of land animals.
2. Many species of fish are predators and feed on their counterparts, much smaller in size. In this regard, the digestive system of fish produces a large number of enzymes that help digest other fish. If, after catching, some of the enzymes are on the body of the fish, then over time they begin to digest it from the outside, which also causes an unpleasant odor of decomposition. For this reason, it is recommended to gut the fish after capture as quickly as possible.
3. Unpleasant odors are fatty acids that appear during the oxidation of unsaturated fats. There are much more such fats in fish meat than in meat of terrestrial animals and they are oxidized in air much faster than saturated fats.
How to get rid of the smell of fish in the apartment
If the hostess fries fish, then all the inhabitants of the apartment know about it, and often neighbors due to the characteristic smell. This unpleasant aroma penetrates all corners of the room and impregnates objects in the house. It will not turn out immediately, so it’s better not to guess how to get rid of the smell of fish, but to prevent its appearance even before the preparation of fish dishes. This can be done by adopting proven folk methods:
• During cooking, place a container of water next to the stove in which you need to add lemon juice, cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves. Vinegar dissolved in water will also absorb odor well.
• Absorbs the smell of fish melted on a stove in a special container sugar mixed with a small amount of vanillin.
• A few drops of lemon juice added to the oil will help get rid of the smell of fried fish. Fish in such oil will not only smell less, but will cook faster.
• If the fish is grilling, place 3-4 bay leaves on the wire rack.
• After frying the fish, place the pan under cold running water, and put some tea leaves on the stove for a while
If after cooking fish dishes there is still an unpleasant odor, it can be eliminated with the help of other, more persistent aromas:
• Citrus fruit. Orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit tend to absorb extraneous odors and fill the apartment with the aroma of freshness.
• Coffee. Quickly neutralize the aroma of the fish after making several coffee beans roasted in a hot pan.
• Vinegar. Regular table vinegar is a powerful remedy against persistent bad odor. Stir a few tablespoons of vinegar in a small pot of water and bring it to a boil.
As a rule, after preparing the fish, the characteristic smell remains not only in the air, but also penetrates into the tissues in the apartment, especially in the tablecloths and curtains. Normal ventilation will not eliminate odor immediately. Therefore, after finishing the preparation of fish, it is better to wash the curtains and tablecloth immediately. If this is not possible, you can soak things in water diluted with vinegar, at the rate of two tablespoons of table vinegar per five liters of warm water.
How to get rid of the smell of fish in your arms
Many housewives do not like to cook fish for the reason that after it there is an unpleasant odor on the hands that cannot be removed immediately, even if it is good to wash our hands with soap. But where detergents do not cope, alternative methods will come to the rescue, which will help get rid of the smell of fish with the help of improvised means available in any kitchen.
1. Lemon. After washing your hands thoroughly with soap, you need to rub them with a piece of lemon or lime, soaking in lemon juice not only the inside of the palm, but also between the fingers.
2. Vinegar. To get rid of the unpleasant odor, you need to rinse your hands with a solution of vinegar (one tablespoon in two liters of water). If after this procedure the hands still smell of fish, you can hold them in the same solution for several minutes.
3. Essential oil. It absorbs the smell of fish well with the addition of a few drops of lemon or orange essential oil. At the same time, only cold water should be used for rinsing, since in warm water the essential oil will not give a tangible effect.
4. Beer. Hands smelling of fish must first be washed with soap and water and then grated with beer (both light and dark will do). Beer neutralizes an unpleasant odor, leaving behind only a light aroma of bread. In addition, this drink softens the skin of the hands and at the same time does not dry it, unlike detergents.
How to get rid of the smell of fish on clothes
If the clothes are saturated with the unpleasant aroma of fish, the first thing that comes to mind is to wash it in the usual way. However, this does not always give a guaranteed result, because this smell is sometimes so pungent that even after washing by hand or in a washing machine, it can still be felt. In order to get rid of the smell of fish, add a little lemon juice to the washing powder, which perfectly neutralizes unpleasant odors. Also, when washing in an automatic washing machine, you can add a little air conditioning with a pleasant aroma.
Soaking will help to achieve a good result when washing. You can neutralize the fish smell on clothing by pre-soaking it in a soap solution with a high alkali content. To get such a solution, take ordinary laundry soap and grate it. Stir the resulting mass in hot water and soak the smelling fish clothing in it. At the same time, do not forget that the darker the laundry soap, the higher its effectiveness. Also, instead of soap, you can add table vinegar, but not more than two tablespoons for one soaking.
How to get rid of the smell of fish on clothes if neither washing nor soaking helps? The most effective method in this case will be boiling in a solution of water and laundry soap. However, such a procedure can damage or ruin the fabric. If it’s impossible to boil fish-smelling clothes, it’s better to dry them.
It is not easy for those people who regularly have to work with fish. In this case, some simple tips that will be useful in dealing with the constant smell of fish will help:
• Washing clothes stained or smelling of fish is a long and tedious process, so it’s better to wash several things at a time.
• If there is no time or opportunity to wash clothes, you can wrap them in old newspapers. Ink has the beneficial property of absorbing bad odors well.
• After washing, dry your clothes in the fresh air, especially in the cold. In the winter cold, odors disappear much faster.
