If you want to know what real kippers taste like, this is the place to come…
Herring fishing was a major industry on the the Isle of Man. The fish don’t stay fresh for very long and needed to be ‘preserved’ either by salting in barrels or by smoking. In the C19th Peel was a major exporter of kippers. The fish were split, gutted and then hung over smouldering wood chippings to cure then.
Moore’s Kipper House has been smoking kippers since 1884 and is the only traditional smoke house left on the Isle of Man. (The others use an electric kiln which is cheaper and quicker.)
Kippers are smoked on a Monday and Friday and you can smell them as you approach the smoke house. Tours are run on Mondays and you are taken into the smoke house while the owner explains how herrings are gutted and then hug on racks in the kilns above a wood chip fire and left to smoke for up to 12 hours. There is also the chance to sample the kippers. These are moist and absolutely delicious – after them you won’t want to make do with the usual factory products. They are also undyed so don’t have the synthetic bright orange colour of so many supermarket kippers.
The tour took well over an hour and there was chance to ask questions. It did involve a lot of sitting and listening and young children would probably get bored, as there was a lot of information to take in.
Kippers can be bought in the shop which is open 10-5 except Sundays, April – October. They also sell sliced bacon which has been smoked on the premises. This has a wonderful tarry flavour and again is quite different to the usual smokey bacon on sale. You can also buy both on line to enjoy once you get home.
“Website”:https://www.manxkippers.com/
There is more information about things to do and see on the Isle of Man “here.”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/man/index.html
