(Download PDF) Environmental Plant Physiology 1St Edition Neil Willey Author Online Ebook All Chapter PDF
(Download PDF) Environmental Plant Physiology 1St Edition Neil Willey Author Online Ebook All Chapter PDF
(Download PDF) Environmental Plant Physiology 1St Edition Neil Willey Author Online Ebook All Chapter PDF
https://textbookfull.com/product/physicochemical-and-
environmental-plant-physiology-5th-edition-park-s-nobel/
https://textbookfull.com/product/physiology-of-behavior-neil-r-
carlson/
https://textbookfull.com/product/ecological-and-environmental-
physiology-of-mammals-1st-edition-bozinovic/
https://textbookfull.com/product/advanced-environmental-exercise-
physiology-2nd-edition-stephen-s-cheung/
Prescott’s Microbiology Joanne M. Willey
https://textbookfull.com/product/prescotts-microbiology-joanne-m-
willey/
https://textbookfull.com/product/molecular-approaches-in-plant-
biology-and-environmental-challenges-sudhir-p-singh/
https://textbookfull.com/product/core-logic-1st-edition-neil-
tennant/
https://textbookfull.com/product/stock-market-short-termism-law-
regulation-and-reform-kim-m-willey/
https://textbookfull.com/product/weed-physiology-
volume-2-herbicide-physiology-first-edition-duke/
Environmental Plant
Physiology
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Environmental Plant
Physiology
Neil Willey
GS Garland Science
Taylor & Francis Group
NEW YORK LONDON
Vice President: Denise Schanck
Assistant Editor: David Borrowdale
Production Editor: Georgina Lucas
Illustrators: Neil Willey and Nigel Orme
Layout: Georgina Lucas
Cover Designer: Andrew Magee
Copy Editor: Josephine Hargreaves
Proofreader: Sally Livitt
Indexer: Bill Johncocks
Neil Willey is Reader in Environmental Plant Physiology at the University of the West of England
(UWE), Bristol, UK. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Biology & Geography and a PhD in Botany, both from the
University of Bristol, UK. He’s an active teacher of plant biology to undergraduate and postgraduate
students from a variety of disciplines. His research focuses on the behavior and effects of pollutants,
especially radioisotopes, in the soil-plant system. He’s the Director of the UWE Graduate School and the
Chair of the UK Coordinating Group for Environmental Radioactivity.
Front Cover.
Close-up of Rhododendron flower.
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Every effort has
been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material.
Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references
are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author
and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences
of their use. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without permission of
the copyright holder.
ISBN 978-0-8153-4469-8
Published by Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, an informa business,
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA, and 3 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN, UK.
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
GS Garland Science
Taylor & Francis Group
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to the students who have taken my courses; the discus-
sion that their interest stimulates has been vital to developing this book. I
would also like to express my appreciation for the very helpful comments of
colleagues and reviewers. Many thanks to staff from Garland Science: Dave
Borrowdale for steering the project from beginning to end, Gina Almond for
her role in getting it off the ground, and Georgina Lucas for all her efforts
during the publication process. And finally, particular thanks must go to
Lorna and the rest of my family without whose support this book, and much
else, would never have happened.
Neil Willey
Reviewers
Habib-ur-Rehman Athar (Bahauddin Zakariya University); Juergen
Burkhardt (University of Bonn); Ivan Couée (University of Rennes); Peter
S. Curtis (The Ohio State University); Stephen Ebbs (Southern Illinois
University); David E. Evans (Oxford Brookes University); Ros Gleadow
(Monash University); Kevin Griffin (Columbia University); Stuart Lane
(Plymouth University); Richard Leegood (University of Sheffield); Denis
Murphy (University of South Wales); Bob Nowak (University of Nevada,
Reno); Léon-Etienne Parent (Université Laval); David Tissue (University
of Western Sydney); Alyson Tobin (University of St Andrews); Marcos
Yanniccari (CONICET, Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Jianhua Zhu
(University of Maryland).
vii
Contents
Chapter 1 Contexts, Perspectives, Leaf optical properties are adapted to long-term
and Principles 1 variation in light regimes 41
Plant interactions with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, Adjustments in leaf position and plant architecture
and geosphere underpin terrestrial ecosystems 1 adapt plants to different light regimes 44
Minimizing human impact on ecosystems and Photoinhibition is most severe in alpine
achieving global food security are significant environments 46
challenges 3 Summary 48
Proximate and ultimate questions elucidate how and Further reading 49
why plants interact with the environment 5
Resources, stressors, and toxins affect plant biomass
production and quality 6 Chapter 3 Carbon Dioxide 51
Environmental factors that affect plant growth are CO2 fixation underpins the primary production of
interacting but independent variables 10 biomass 51
Many reference soil groups are a product of Variation in the supply of CO2 to plants is significant
interacting environmental variables 10 and affected by human activity 53
Spatial and temporal analyses provide insights into The regulation of rubisco activity controls CO2 entry
plant responses to environmental variation 11 into the Calvin–Benson cycle 56
Plants process information about environmental Oxygenation of RuBP decreases growth but provides
variation using signaling networks 14 rapid metabolic flexibility 58
Differences in gene expression and in the genes When there is a sustained low CO2 supply, C4
expressed underpin a hierarchy of plant adaptations 14 plants maintain a high CO2:O2 ratio in the vicinity
of rubisco 60
Environmental plant physiology is ecologically useful
in defining plant traits and niches 19 C3–C4 intermediates and C4 plants show distinct
responses to chronic differences in the
Studying plant–environment interactions can help to environment 63
increase agricultural efficiency and sustainability 20
Crassulacean acid metabolism adapts plants to
Modeling is improving our understanding of plant– chronically difficult CO2-fixation conditions 66
environment interactions 21
Long-term increased CO2 levels can increase
Summary 21 plant growth, but limiting factors can moderate
Further reading 22 this effect 69
Plant responses to increasing CO2 levels will affect
the hydrological cycle and Earth’s climate 72
Chapter 2 Light 23 An understanding of CO2 fixation by plants is
In plants, ancient photosynthetic systems provide important for sustainable food production and
the chemical energy for terrestrial ecosystems 23 ecosystem conservation 73
Photosystems, cytochromes, and ATP synthases Summary 75
transduce light energy into chemical energy 25 Further reading 75
Terrestrial plants have to adapt to a generally high
and very variable light regime 28
Plants can adjust quickly to variation in PAR using Chapter 4 Water 77
non-photochemical quenching 31 Plant–water relations affect physiological processes
Plants can adjust electron flows to help them to from a cellular to a global scale 77
withstand variable light intensities 34 Water management is vital for ensuring global food
PSII repair is important in plants that tolerate high security and minimizing the impact of human
light intensities 36 activity on the environment 80
Chloroplast movements can be used to adjust fairly Water potential gradients drive water movement,
rapidly the amount of light absorbed 37 including transpiration in trees over 100 m tall 83
Photosystems, grana, and thylakoids adapt to Short-term adjustments of resistance to water flux
differences in light regime 39 allow water homeostasis 85
viii CONTENTS
Many plants adapt physiologically to short-term Mycorrhizas are major adaptations for phosphorus
water deficit 88 acquisition in low-phosphorus environments 142
Extended water deficit induces changes in Some species use cluster root systems to
root growth 90 intensively mine phosphorus from the soil 146
Leaf adaptations aid drought survival and provide Carnivorous plants digest organic phosphorus
alternative ways of capturing water 92 using phosphatases 150
Succulent xerophytes are physiologically Summary 150
decoupled from their chronically arid environments 94 Further reading 151
Resurrection plants cope with complete desiccation 95
Interactions between water and other stressors
provide important environmental insights 99 Chapter 7 Essential and
Summary 100 Beneficial Elements 153
Further reading 101 Terrestrial plants evolved to mine the soil for an
ancient suite of available elements 153
The availability of essential nutrients limits
Chapter 5 Nitrogen 103 biomass production and quality in many
Nitrogen assimilated in plants is vital for the ecosystems 156
production of biomolecules in terrestrial organisms 103 Elemental homeostasis is achieved using both
Artificially fixed nitrogen significantly affects the ion-binding compounds and transport proteins 157
biosphere and atmosphere 104 Plants adjust to a variable supply of
The concentration of different forms of soil micronutrients by overexpressing homeostatic
nitrogen varies significantly 107 components 159
Plant nitrogen-transporter uptake capacity is Beneficial elements help many plant species to
tuned to variation in soil nitrogen supply 111 cope with a wide range of abiotic stresses 160
Sub-optimal sulfur availability can inhibit the
Plants integrate nitrogen from different sources by
synthesis of ecophysiologically important
converting it to NH3 for assimilation 113
compounds 162
Whole-plant physiological adjustments help to use
Potassium can limit ecosystem production, but
different patterns of nitrogen supply 115
its use in fertilizer has a moderate environmental
Plants adjust their root morphology in response to impact 164
shortages of nitrogen 116
Calcium deficiency can occur in a variety of
Symbioses contribute significantly to plant plants, and magnesium deficiency in a variety
nitrogen uptake in nitrogen-deficient environments 117 of crops 166
Carnivorous plants are mixotrophs that can Adaptations of root anatomy and morphology
obtain nitrogen opportunistically from an erratic help plants to respond to chronic nutrient
supply 123 deficiency 168
Summary 126 Many plants use symbioses with fungi and
Further reading 127 changes in rhizosphere microflora to aid nutrient
uptake 170
Ionomics 171
Chapter 6 Phosphorus 129 Summary 173
Phosphorus availability often controls terrestrial Further reading 174
biomass production and ecosystem processes 129
Current phosphorus fertilizer regimes are
unsustainable, inefficient, and often polluting 131 Chapter 8 Temperature 175
Phosphorus homeostasis is a key challenge for Plants are static poikilotherms, so significant
plants in terrestrial ecosystems 133 variation in temperature is a considerable
Plants have numerous transporters that regulate challenge 175
uptake and translocation 135 Changing global temperature regimes are affecting
Plants can increase the availability of inorganic plant growth, development, and distribution 177
phosphorus and the breakdown of organic Plants detect temperature changes via physical
phosphorus 136 changes in numerous biomolecules 180
Plants can adjust their root system morphology Chilling, freezing, and heat initiate changes in key
to optimize phosphorus uptake 140 components of different signaling pathways 183
CONTENTS ix
In some plants, chilling temperatures can induce Plant cells have multiple mechanisms for buffering
an acclimation response based on the CBF regulon 184 cytosolic pH 233
Adaptation to non-optimal temperature Acid soils contain high solution concentrations
necessitates maintaining membranes in the of ions that are toxic to plant cells 234
liquid–crystal state 186 Some plants resist the effects of moderate soil
Freezing-tolerant plants produce cryoprotectants acidity by excluding aluminum from the
and osmoprotectants 188 cytoplasm 237
Heat-tolerant plants have protein curation For many plants on acid soils, mycorrhizal
mechanisms adapted to increase the rate of associations increase aluminum resistance 240
protein repair 191 On very acidic soils, some plants take up and
Anatomical and morphological adaptations of compartmentalize aluminum 241
leaves aid plant tolerance of prolonged cold Basic soils are low in important nutrients and
and heat 194 induce characteristic symptoms in plants 243
Temperature-induced physiological changes trigger Some plants have adapted to scavenge iron, zinc,
developmental and phenological responses 198 and manganese from basic soils 246
Summary 199 Nicotianamine aids iron homeostasis, and in
Further reading 199 grasses evolved into root exudates that chelate iron 247
Ecologically important iron and zinc deficiency
responses are finding important agricultural uses 249
Chapter 9 Salinity 201 Summary 250
Terrestrial plants are descended from freshwater
Further reading 251
algae, so saline water is generally toxic to them 201
Plant responses to salinity are important in
irrigated agriculture and in salt marshes and Chapter 11 Flooding 253
mangrove swamps 204
Flooding is a significant variable in both
Exposure to salt induces osmotic and ionic unmanaged and managed terrestrial ecosystems 253
stresses in plants 208
Human activity is adversely affecting wetlands
Sodium can enter plants via symplastic and and increasing the incidence of flooding 255
apoplastic pathways, but can be removed from
Waterlogged soils are low in oxygen and some
the cytoplasm 211
nutrients, but high in toxins 255
Salt-tolerant plants compartmentalize sodium,
Soil waterlogging rapidly induces hypoxia,
and halophytes also control potassium:sodium
cellular acidosis, and decreased water uptake 258
ratios 213
Physiological adjustments enable some plants to
At high salinity, halophytes synthesize
withstand soil waterlogging for short periods 259
specialized metabolites in order to adapt to
osmotic challenges 215 Ethylene signaling is central to plant responses to
excess water 261
Salt tolerance in crops has been increased by
manipulating biochemical and physiological In many plants, waterlogging-induced hypoxia
traits 217 induces changes in root anatomy 262
Halophytes that face severe osmotic stresses have Wetland plants form extensive constitutive
morphological and physiological adaptations 219 aerenchyma and adapt morphologically to
flooding 266
Some halophytes use specialized organs to
excrete sodium chloride from their leaves 221 In some flooded soils, pneumatophores help
woody plants to aerate their roots 268
Mangrove and salt-marsh plants tolerate
waterlogging and salinity 223 The adaptations of wetland plants often produce
oxidized rhizospheres 269
Summary 224
Some plants can adapt to submergence of their
Further reading 225
shoots 271
Emergent aquatic macrophytes can force oxygen
Chapter 10 Soil pH 227 down through organs buried deep in anoxic mud 273
Soil pH affects the growth of both wild and Some aquatic macrophytes are adapted to living
domesticated plants 227 permanently submerged 275
Soil pH is operationally defined and human Summary 275
activities are affecting it on a global scale 229 Further reading 276
x CONTENTS
organic water
toxins
Chapter 1
Contexts,
inorganic nitrogen
toxins
salinity temperature
Key concepts
• Plant–environment interactions are the foundation of terrestrial Plant growth is affected by variation
ecosystems. in independent, interacting
environmental variables.
• Environmental change and food security are significant challenges for
humankind.
• Physiology is the study of how and why organisms function as they do.
• Biomass production and quality are dependent on resources, stressors,
and xenobiotics.
• The environmental factors that affect plants are independent variables
with overlapping effects.
• Major soil types embody the effects of many interacting variables that
influence plant growth.
• Spatial and temporal variation provides key perspectives on plant–
environment interactions.
• Plants detect environmental variation via signal transduction networks.
• There is a hierarchy of adaptations that underpin plant responses to
environmental variation.
• Environmental plant physiology can elucidate key ecological processes.
• Agricultural systems can benefit from insights into plant–environment
interactions.
• Models can be used to predict plant behavior in a changing
environment.
transformed not only the domains of life but also the biogeochemistry of
Earth. Terrestrial plants are therefore at a crucial nexus of the biogeochemi-
cal cycles of the Earth, and help to provide the life-support system for terres-
trial species, including humans. Understanding plant function at this nexus
provides major insights into many of the environmental challenges that face
humankind. This book aims to provide an understanding of plant physiol-
ogy that is informed by the development of terrestrial ecosystems and rele
vant to current environmental challenges.
The earliest evidence of multicellular plants that were adapted to the chal-
lenges of living on land is provided by spore tetrad microfossils from the
Ordovician period. These suggest that, in some terrestrial locations at least,
there were quite extensive stands of plants on land by 450 million years ago.
Due to the lack of macrofossils, it is uncertain what these plants looked like,
but they were probably liverwort-like and inhabited wet environments,
perhaps living in shallow standing water. Macrofossils from the subsequent
Silurian period suggest that, by 425 million years ago, plants on land were
up to 10 cm tall and had rhizoids—they were beginning to function partly
in the atmosphere and partly in the regolith. Between 425 and 300 million
years ago there was a profound increase in the diversity of terrestrial plants
(Figure 1.1). Complex terrestrial ecosystems began to develop in which a
diverse range of plants, many of which have descendants in current ecosys-
tems, adapted to the challenges of life on land. Fossils from the Devonian
and Carboniferous periods show that some of these plants were many tens
of meters tall, and although many of them were clearly swamp dwellers,
some probably inhabited drier habitats.
)
00
hy 0) (16
50
00
0)
op 00 s
23
id (1 lant
10
50
a(
(1
a(
Pt hyt ar p
yt
ta
yt
ph
ph
p l
a
co cu
PERIOD
lio
ro
Ly -vas
no
fe
ZOIC ERA
ni
er
ag
n
Co
no
Tertiary CENO-
70
Cretaceous
MESOZOIC
145
Years before present (million)
megaphylls
Mycorrhizae = root symbioses with fungi; 375
microphylls = small simple leaves without Devonian
extensive vascular systems; megaphylls = 420
vascular systems, root systems, mycorrhizae, microphylls
Silurian
large true leaves with extensive vascular 455
systems; ovules = structures that contain Ordovician
spores, cuticles, stomata
the female gametophyte. (Redrawn from 490
Ridge I [2002] Plants. With permission Cambrian
from Oxford University Press.) 542
Minimizing human impact on ecosystems and achieving global food security are significant challenges 3
In the 1970s it was difficult to predict when global population growth might
stop, but now most credible predictions suggest that the global popula-
tion will peak at 10–12 billion in the second half of the twenty-first century.
This is a very significant increase in population when the strain on terres-
trial ecosystems from the current population of about 7 billion is already
so significant. The intensification of agriculture during the latter part of the
twentieth century was one of the most profound and successful of the many
applications of science that were developed in that century. In 1900 it was
inconceivable that it would be possible to come anywhere close to meeting
current demand for agricultural products used for food, forage, fuel, cloth-
ing, drinks, or raw materials. A modest proportion of the increase in agri-
cultural productivity in the twentieth century was due to an increase in the
total area of agricultural production, but the greatest proportion was due to
an increase in the amount of resource per unit area per unit time being con-
verted into yield. This was often achieved by adding resources and by using
varieties that matured more quickly to enable production of more than one
crop per year. Thomas Malthus famously suggested in 1798 that population
growth would inevitably outstrip agricultural production, but the history of
agriculture suggests that humans are adept at avoiding Malthus’s prediction.
They have done so in significant part by increasing the efficiency of plant–
environment interactions in agricultural ecosystems.
Centuries of study have identified many of the major groups evolutionary pathways that actually occurred. When variance
of plants, so if the evolution of a particular character is being in a molecular character such as a gene sequence is known,
investigated, an outgroup, which is highly likely to be dis- Monte Carlo methods can be used to produce what are in
tantly related, can be chosen to root an analysis. Using an out- effect infinitely large data sets from which numerous phy-
group enables a rooted evolutionary tree to be constructed, logenetic trees can be reconstructed. Consensus trees can
rather than a simple cluster of similarity. A major complica- then be used to estimate the probability of each node having
tion in phylogenetic reconstruction is long-branch attraction, occurred. Measures such as bootstrap and jackknife values
in which a small change in a character can produce a radical quantify how often particular nodes occur in reconstructed
reorganization of the long branches of a phylogenetic tree. The consensus trees, and thus estimate their likelihood of having
use of algorithms to control for long-branch attraction and of occurred (Figure 1).
multiple characters increases the likelihood of identifying the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
95
respectively, are used in each chapter of this book to elucidate plant function.
The discussion of function in each chapter starts with molecular biology and
proceeds towards function of whole plants in a phylogenetic context.
russian polony.
Your success in this undertaking chiefly depends upon the choice
of the meats made use of. Take of
The lean of Belfast smoked hams, 1 year old 3 lb.
The fat of Belfast smoked hams, 1 year old 3 lb.
High flavoured hung beef 3 lb.
Smoked ox tongues 3 lb.
Hard back fat of bacon 4 lb.
Peel the tongues after being boiled and reject the roots and tips. Cut
the four first of the above up into dice and pound them separately
into smooth pastes, with mucilage of gum tragacanth and fresh
butter. Next cut the fat bacon into dice or cubes as large as the finest
growth of peas, no rind or gristles to be retained; then mix intimately
together,
Garlic, minced 1½ oz.
Shalots, minced 6 oz.
Juniper berries, in fine powder 3 oz
Jamaica pepper, in fine powder 3 oz.
Black peppercorns 3 oz.
Bay salt, in fine powder 1 lb.
Coarse sugar ¾ lb.
and blending all the meats well, season highly with the mixture, and
put it down in a jar for a week to mellow. Then work the mass well for
half an hour. Get some of the largest ox intestines, and soak them in
luke-warm salt and water, wipe them dry and proceed to fill them,
keeping out the air as much as possible, which you will effect by
regular and even pressure, and pricking, only where necessary, with
a stocking-needle. Make your polonies about a foot long each, and
put them aside as done until the next day; then repeat the pressure
and tie them up finally. They must be put into boiling-water with a
little salt and saltpetre, and after once boiling, simmer only for half an
hour. Then take them up, wipe dry, and hang in a current of air for a
week, being turned daily without fail. Then smoke them with
Oak lops 2 parts
Beech chips 2 parts
Fern 1 part
Peat 1 part
for a month. Stow them away in malt cooms. They will be prized by
those persons who delight in high flavours. They need no coating;
nay, many foreigners prefer them mouldy on the outsides.
german saveloys.
Take rough Hambro’ smoked beef 2 lb.
Neats’ tongues,
smoked 1 lb.
Smoked ham 1 lb.
Fat of bacon 2 lb.
Boil the tongue moderately, peal and cut off the gross root tip. Cut up
the whole of the meat into large dice, and pound it thoroughly, mixing
the fat in equally in all parts of the mass. Pick out all skins, sinews,
&c., and mix a pound of good moist sugar throughout it, so let it lie
two days. Then take
Sage leaves, in fine powder 3 oz.
Garlic, minced finely 2 oz.
Shalots 2 oz.
Bay leaf, in powder 2 oz.
Chillies, or capsicum, in
powder 3 oz.
mix them well and then sift them, and blend them well with the meat,
so that all parts may partake of the flavour alike; put it into a jar,
which bung up close and set it aside for a week to get mellow. Now
try a small quantity of it: if it suits your taste, well and good, if not add
seasoning. Now fill your sausage skins, and when nice and solid
prick them a little, and put them into a pan of boiling water to simmer
slowly three quarters of an hour. Then take them out and let go cold,
and next day wipe them and smoke them three weeks with
Oak lops and dust 3 parts
Fern or grass turfs 3 parts
then hang them up in a dry room and keep them with hams, tongues,
&c. These will be excellent in a month, just popped into boiling water
for five minutes, or fried in olive oil and eaten cold.
marinated salmon.
Take six or eight pounds of the middle of a large fish, in
preference to a similar weight of the whole of a grilse or salmon
trout, scale it and cut off the fins, split it open at the back and reserve
the roe and liver; wipe the fish out nicely, and strew moist sugar all
over the red side, put it away on a dish until the next day. Then make
the following mixture,
Bay leaf, in powder 1 oz.
Mace, in powder ½ oz.
Cloves, in powder ¾ oz.
White pepper, in powder ¾ oz.
Table salt 1¼ lb.
Take out the backbone neatly and rub the fish on both sides well with
the mixture and the former sugar; lay three or four laurel leaves upon
the red face of the thick side, turn the thin side over upon them, and
set it away in a cool place for twenty-four hours. Then take it up,
wipe dry, and cut the sides into fitting pieces, and place them in a
deep dish upon the spices, and half a pint of Rhenish wine or Cape
Madeira; tie double paper over and bake it in a slow oven till done
enough. Pour off the pickle while yet warm, and set the pieces on a
sieve to drip until the next day—covered close with a cloth to prevent
the action of the air upon it, and thus to preserve the colour. Now
choose your pots according to the size of your family, and into each
one place a piece of the fish, the red face downwards, and fill up with
genuine olive oil, let remain until the next day, when add more oil,
and again on the third day replenishing what has been absorbed by
the fish. Then tie wetted bladder over the pots and keep them in a
cool dry air. This cannot fail of gaining the approval of all who
partake of it, and is the most certain method of obtaining fresh
salmon in the winter months. The same oil will do again and again
for a similar purpose.
marinated shrimps.
To ensure this delicacy of first-rate quality you must buy your
shrimps alive, and boil and pick them at home with all possible
despatch. Set a gallon of live shrimps in three quarts of boiling water,
in which one and half pounds of bay or rock salt has been dissolved,
and boil them fifteen minutes, then strain off the water and as soon
as possible commence shelling them, and keep them covered with
cloths as you proceed. Be particular that no refuse or pieces of the
shells remain to disgrace the preparer, and laying them lightly on
clean dishes, mix amongst them the following seasoning in very fine
powder, being well sifted and dried the day previous and kept bottled
up. I repeat that the shrimps must have been deprived of all their
moisture with the assistance of a moderately cool oven, and not two
fish to be seen sticking together. Nor can any excuse avail in this
instance, as the less time that is occupied in potting these sorts so
much better chance will there be of your total success in the product.
Mace, in finest powder 1 oz.
Nutmeg, in finest powder 2 oz.
Cloves, in finest powder 2 oz.
Table salt, in finest powder 1 lb.
Loaf sugar, in finest
powder ¾ lb.
When seasoned to your entire satisfaction, the fish however fully
retaining their own fine flavour, fill your pots, which must be the
cleanest and best dried possible; press the shrimps well down, and
set them as you proceed at the mouth of your cool oven until there is
no evaporation observable. Now take them up, press down again,
and laying one or two bay leaves on the top, fill up with the best olive
oil, and set away in a cool dry room. Next day replenish the oil that
has been absorbed, and not till after the third day tie bladder over.
Plenty of oil must cover the fish, and although potted shrimps are not
expected to keep well after three or four days, yet you may expect
every satisfaction from this process. If decay soon takes place, it will
be owing to the fish not having been well dried in the process. As to
the preservation of the true flavour of the fish, this preparation
demands our decided preference.
marinated herrings.
The freshest full-roed herrings must be taken for this purpose.
Scale twenty of the shortest and fattest you can get in the middle of
the season, take off the heads, tails, fins, and open them at the
bellies, clean all out, scrape the backbone, and washing the fish in
salt and water, wipe them dry and let them lie until next day, after
rubbing a dessert-spoonful of good moist sugar into the inside of
each fish. Lay them upon their backs in any vessel not too deep, and
cover the fish over with the following mixture—the roes should be
nicely washed, dried, and laid by the side of the fish:
Coarse sugar 1 lb.
Bay salt, in fine
powder ¾ lb.
Black pepper 1 oz.
Eschalots, minced 1 oz.
Nutmegs, grated 1 oz.
putting half the fish in one layer then a layer of the mixture, and then
a layer of fish above that, and the spices covering all; so let them lie
covered up with a cloth three days. Then wipe the fish dry, place the
roes inside, cut them across in two parts, tie up in rolls with calico,
and lay them with plenty of bay leaves and four laurel leaves in a
deep dish and bake them, just covered over with good sound porter;
then while warm pour off the liquor, and set the fish on a sieve to go
cold, and next day put each one into a white earthenware jar and
cover with olive oil with the same precautions as before. In two
months they will be mellow and rich and greatly liked. The porter in
which they were baked, being boiled twenty minutes with a dozen of
shalots and cayenne, will be a very good cold sauce for chops,
steaks, fish, &c.
marinated sprats.
These shall be superior to what were called “sardines in oil,”
some thirty years ago, and sold in London at 4s. 6d. at first in small
tin boxes, and afterwards at 2s. 6d., each tin containing about
sixteen sprats—for sprats they certainly were. Take a peck of fresh
sprats and pick out for your present use as many of the largest and
most sound as will suit your purpose. Pull off the heads, cut off the
fins and tails, and draw out the little guts, wash them quickly through
salt and water, and dry them between cloths. Have ready the
following:
Mace, in finest powder 1 oz.
Cloves, in finest powder 2 oz.
Nutmeg, in finest
powder 1 oz.
Saltpetre, in finest
powder 3 oz.
Table salt, in finest
powder 1 lb.
Bay leaf, in finest
powder 3 oz.
with which rub each fish on the inside first, and then throughout the
bulk; put them into small pots of white earthenware, closely packed;
tie bladder over them, merely to keep out the water, and place them
in a stewpan, adding water to reach half way up the sides of the jars,
cover the pan and set it on a slow fire to simmer until the fish are
cooked; then take them up, remove the covers, and set them aside
till the next day, when, pouring off any oil or fat that may have been
given out in cooking, fill up with olive oil and tie bladders safely over.
potted smelts.
For this purpose the smaller fish will do very well. Cut them open
at the belly, clean out and wash in salt and water, having first cut off
the tails and fins; now season them inside with
Mace, in powder ½ oz.
Nutmeg, in powder 1 oz.
Table salt 3 oz.
Cayenne pepper ½ oz.
Bay leaf ¾ oz.
and let them lie till next day, when lay them in oblong pots and cover
them with clarified butter; bake them in a slow oven, and when done
enough pour off the butter, and drain effectually, and let them remain
twelve hours. Now warm up the butter again in a water bath, and
running it through a warmed sieve, pour the clear again over the fish,
adding more clarified butter to cover well. Tie bladder over and keep
dry.
potted lobsters.
Take a couple of fine lobsters, place them in a tub with plenty of
weak salt and water, and brush them well from froth and slime, then
wash in pure water and pop them into boiling water in which some
salt and saltpetre have been dissolved. When done lay them on a
sieve to get cold, and next day cut open the shells, crack the claws
and take out the meat, which then pick over carefully from skins and
specks, the coral also must be separated and examined. Now cut
the meat into dice and pound it finely in a mortar, till of a nice smooth
consistence, adding clarified butter at pleasure. Then season with
Mace, in fine powder ¾ oz.
Nutmeg, in fine powder 1 oz.
Bay leaf, in fine powder 1 oz.
White pepper, in fine
powder 1 oz.
Cloves, in fine powder ¾ oz.
and working the paste well proceed to fill white pots, and putting a
part of the coral into the middle of each pot. Press well in and set
aside for the night. Put the pots next into a slow oven, and let the
steam escape that might arise, and when you have got them as dry
as it is possible, without changing the colour of the preparation, set
them by to go cold; then cover with clarified butter effectually and
writing paper over the tops of the pots.
potted crabs.
To meet with well potted crabs is a very rare occurrence, and,
speaking generally, is attributable to the carelessness of the
preparer. Crabs are very often out of season, that is, cannot be got
without great trouble and expense, and they are very much liked;
these admissions furnish reasons why we should have some well
preserved. Take half a dozen eastern coast crabs—those of
Hartlepool and neighbourhood are always sound and well flavoured,
while those on the western coast and about Ireland are little worth—
plug up all the holes with wooden pegs, throw them into a tubful of
salt and water and brush them thoroughly, then wash in pure water
and put them into boiling water to be cooked; then take them up and
lay them to get cold; pull off the claws and put the large shells into a
slow oven after having run off any water that may have collected in
them, and when no more steam arises from the slow drying, set
them also to get cold. Take all the meat out of the claws, pick out
very carefully all the little skins and strings, cut it into dice and pound
it in a mortar with clarified butter until of a nice plastic mass, which
cover up in a cloth. Now attack the body shells, pick out all the solid
meat, and, setting the coral aside, throw out all the skins and refuse
you can find, and beat up this also with best Durham mustard, as for
the table, some cayenne, chillie vinegar, and table salt. Place some
of this at the bottom of each pot, and having ready this seasoning,
mix what is requisite with the meat from the claws:
Mace 1 oz.
Cloves 1½ oz.
Nutmeg 1 oz.
Bay leaf 1 oz.
Table salt 6 oz.
White pepper 2 oz.
Work this well into the mass, and having put a portion of the hard
coral into each pot, fill up with the seasoned claw meat. Set the pots
in a slow oven to evaporate what moisture you can, then set aside
and when cold pour clarified butter plentifully over, which, when cold,
must again be covered with writing paper. If your ingredients were
genuine, your butter sweet, and well managed, and the fish of prime
quality, you will have a choice or rare preparation of these generally
admired fish.