Up until the opening years of this century the fish were conserved in ice-holes . These were deep holes dug in the ground and closed by a mound of stones. During the winter period they were filled with the ice which formed on the lake, along the shore or in the cane-brakes where the water was lowest.
The filling of the hole lasted many days during which a cart went back and forth between the shore and the same ice-hole. Once placed inside the ice was isolated from the hole's walls by way of a jacket of rice husks. In this way everything was conserved even late into the summer.
Fishing and its processing on Lake Maggiore is no longer very widespread. In the past the fish conserved was above all twaite shad that was dried, salted and transformed into the well-known missultit which are still produced on the Lakes of Garda and Iseo (where, moreover, also rudd and chub are used). Today the scarce and intermittent presence of twaite shad - which for long periods disappears (for seasons or even whole years) - makes the planning of a constant production difficult. Going by oral testimonies, the other species fished do not seem to have a significant processing tradition.
This is localized in Germignaga, where some years ago a large family of fishermen decided to convert the premises used as a fishmonger's - by this time become too onerous an undertaking - into a "smoking house" equipped with special machinery which appropriately programmed both dries and smokes the fish. While the mixture of spices and herbs used is not specified, the procedure can be synthesized as follows.
The excess fish - which is not sold fresh, in other words - is filleted and immediately frozen in order to keep the flesh compact. One then moves on to the actual processing of the fish - usually during the period of the biological pause, in the winter - which consists in drying and smoking. The unfrozen fish is immersed in a special brine to then be dried in a ventilated and heated room at a summer temperature of roughly 35-36 degrees for 6-7 hours. On having concluded the drying process the same room is programmed for the smoking procedure. The boiler burns the sawdust from the chosen wood which is given the aroma furnished by diverse herbs (amongst which juniper and mint). At the end of the procedure the fillets are vacuum-packed, ready for sale. Demand - which only comes from habitual clients - is always high and sometimes cannot be met given that this smoked fish is a 'home production' which does not exist elsewhere and which is, moreover, conditioned by the elements that bear upon the quantities fished.