Editing Mackerel (section)

==As food==
[[File:Maquereaux etal.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|Atlantic mackerel on ice at a fish store}}]]
[[File:Mackerel freshly caught.jpg|thumb|Three freshly caught and gutted Mackerel from [[Mount's Bay]] in Cornwall]]
{{main|Mackerel as food}}
Mackerel is an important [[Fish as food|food fish]] that is consumed worldwide.<ref>{{cite book | title = The California mackerel fishery | last1 = Croker | first1 = Richard Symonds | year = 1933 | url = http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt758005bw&query=&brand=calisphere | publisher = Division of Fish and Game of California | number = Contribution No. 125 from the California State Fisheries Laboratory | pages = 9–10}}</ref> As an [[oily fish]], it is a rich source of [[omega-3 fatty acid]]s.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.jerseyseafood.nj.gov/nutrition.html | title = Jersey Seafood Nutrition and Health | publisher = State of New Jersey Department of Agriculture | access-date = 2012-04-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170701033752/http://www.jerseyseafood.nj.gov/nutrition.html | archive-date = 2017-07-01 | url-status = live}}</ref> The flesh of mackerel spoils quickly, especially in the tropics, and can cause [[scombroid food poisoning]]. Accordingly, it should be eaten on the day of capture, unless properly refrigerated or [[Curing (food preservation)|cured]].<ref>{{cite web | date = November 2007 | title = Scombrotoxin (Histamine) | url = http://www.foodsafetywatch.com/public/484.cfm | url-status = usurped | publisher = Food Safety Watch | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120713020029/http://www.foodsafetywatch.com/public/484.cfm | archive-date = 2012-07-13 }}</ref>

Mackerel preservation is not simple. Before the 19th-century development of canning and the widespread availability of refrigeration, salting and smoking were the principal preservation methods available.<ref>{{harvp | Croker | 1933 | pp = 104-105 }}</ref> Historically in England, this fish was not preserved, but was consumed only in its fresh form. However, spoilage was common, leading the authors of ''The Cambridge Economic History of Europe'' to remark: "There are more references to stinking mackerel in English literature than to any other fish!"<ref name=Clapham1941 /> In France, mackerel was traditionally pickled with large amounts of salt, which allowed it to be sold widely across the country.<ref name=Clapham1941>{{cite book | last1 = Clapham | first1 = JH | last2 = Postan | first2 = MM | last3 = Rich | first3 = EE | year = 1941 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gBw9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA166 | title = The Cambridge economic history of Europe | publisher = CUP Archive | pages = 166–168 | isbn = 978-0-521-08710-0}}</ref>

For many years mackerel was regarded as 'unclean' in the UK and other places due to folklore which suggested that the fish fed on the corpses of dead sailors.<ref name = BBCandrew>{{Cite web|last=McFarlane|first=Andrew|date=2010-08-24|title=Why is Britain braced for a mackerel war?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11062674|access-date=2022-08-02|website=[[BBC News]]|language=en}}</ref> A 1976 survey of housewives in Britain undertaken by the [[Sea Fish Industry Authority|White Fish Authority]] indicated a reluctance to departing from buying the traditional staples of cod, haddock or salmon. Less than 10% of the survey's 1,931 respondents had ever bought mackerel, and only 3% did so regularly. As a result of this trend, many UK [[fishmonger]]s during the 1970s did not display or even stock mackerel.<ref name = BBCandrew/>
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