I usually buy my fish and have the monger scale it, but I was wondering if the scales are edible and a good source of minerals. Has anyone successfullly eaten scales of fish or scale with the fish with good digestion and without choking?
I've only had two raw fish, and I got them both whole but didn't eat the scales - one mackerel and one sardine(both wild).
Other people here have said they cut the scales up small and eat them though.
One question I have myself...: When I cut the fish down the belly there are all the guts and stuff... but then behind that, around the spine there was a stream of red going from the tail end into the head, quite wide but fairly shallow, surrounded by a thin membrane. Is this blood? Is it concentrated in the centre in cold water fish to preserve heat? I'm just wondering if it's something I should eat or not really. Also, what do people eat from the guts/internal organs of the fish? And also from the head.. I just ate the muscle and the eyes on the mackerel, but I would like to eat everything I can from it. Does anyone here just bite straight in to the side of fish, taking guts and everything?
