Sweet Herrings

[wallie]

I brined and smoked some herring lately and a rather strangely they came out slightly sweet.
I used a normal salt and water brine nothing else in it.
Smoked them twice using the CSG with oak sawdust which was given to me by a friend who has a carpentry businnes and had been using oak timber to make doors.
I had seived the sawdust before using to extract dust only.
The colour, taste etc., was good apart from the slight sweetness.
You would of thought there was sugar in the brine.
I gave a some to a couple of friends and there remarks were, "Very nice but a little sweet"
I would lilke to know if anyone has idea's where the sweetness came from, could it be from the sawdust?
This has me puzzled.

[Richierich]

Had the wood been rubbed down with sugar soap before he used it??

[lemonD]

When I've used Cherry for smoking it tends to sweeten the product but over smoked Oak tends to be the opposite when I've done it

[wallie]

I am doing a few more herrings in a couple of days time and I thinking of using either maple or hickory.
I would like feedback from anyone who has used either or these woods for smoking fish.
Thanks for the replies.

Regards
wallie

[DanMcG]

No insult intended here Wallie, but any chance you mixed the sugar bowl for the salt one? I've known people who've added a spoonful of salt in there coffee or tea by mistake.
Maple is real sweet to me, then cheery and apple are less the but noticeable.
Ya might want to ask your mate with the dust if anything else was in the sweepings.
And oak I'd consider far from sweet, so it has to be something else.

[wallie]

Hi Dan
I had better keep away from the maple then, I do not want more sweet kippers.
I am using a new batch of oak today from another source so I will let you know how I come on.
To be honest it could only be the previous oak I used as I cooked half a herring when they came out it brine to make sure they were not too salty and there was no sweetness in that.
The only process after that was the smoking.

Thanks for the input.

wallie