Three products, routinely described with one word. They are not interchangeable, they do not weigh the same for the same amount of edible fish, and they do not require the same work from the buyer.
Saltfish
Wet salted. Not dried.
The fish is split and cured with salt, and it stays in that condition. It retains a high moisture content and is stored chilled. In the trade this is the raw material for klippfisk production as well as a product in its own right.
Klippfisk
Salted and then dried.
Saltfish taken through a controlled drying stage. Moisture is substantially reduced, the product becomes stable in storage, and the weight of a given quantity of fish falls considerably. This is the product sold into Portugal, Brazil and the wider bacalhau trade.
The name comes from the practice of drying the salted fish on coastal rock — klippe in Norwegian.
Ready-desalted
Salt drawn out, sold ready to cook.
A separate processed product form. The dried or salted fish is rehydrated and desalted under controlled conditions, then packed — frozen, in our case — with the salt reduced to a level that needs no further soaking.
This removes the desalting step from the buyer’s own site: the water, the tank space, the time and the variability. Our own ready-desalted article is cut into cooking pieces of roughly 8 × 8 × 6 cm, skinless and boneless, packed at 5 kg with a declared 4.0 g salt per 100 g.
Three weight bases
This is where the practical consequence sits. A kilogram of each represents a different amount of finished food:
- Wet salted carries high moisture and a high salt load.
- Dried klippfisk carries much less moisture; a kilogram rehydrates to considerably more than a kilogram of servable product.
- Ready-desalted has already been rehydrated; a kilogram is close to a kilogram of servable product.
Comparing prices across the three without adjusting for this is comparing nothing at all. Compare on the basis of finished portions, and state on the purchase order which of the three you are buying.
Which to buy
Wet salted if you are a processor doing your own drying or your own desalting at scale.
Dried klippfisk if you want control over the final salt level, have the water and tank capacity, and are buying volume where the freight saving on dried weight is material.
Ready-desalted if the desalting step is a cost and a variable you would rather not carry — typical for foodservice kitchens and for operations without dedicated soaking capacity.
None is better. They are three commercial decisions.
Species declaration
Whitefish other than cod is cured commercially, saithe in particular, and the price difference between cod and saithe klippfisk is substantial. The scientific name belongs on the documentation for every article, and the two should never be conflated on an invoice or a health certificate.