How Craster Kippers Are Made – Traditional Smoking in Northumberland
0:00 Introduction to Craster Kippers
0:36 Family history and business origins
1:16 Production volume and sourcing herring
1:42 The splitting and cleaning process
2:33 Hand-gilling the herring
3:10 The brining process
3:41 The smoking process: time and technique
4:10 Smokehouse history and capacity
4:21 Smoking temperature and natural methods
4:57 Cold smoking vs. traditional smoking
5:20 Tasting and quality assessment
How are traditional Craster kippers made — and why has the process remained unchanged for over 150 years?
Filmed in Northumberland, this film follows the full smoking process from fresh herring to finished kippers, revealing how time, technique, and natural ingredients shape one of Britain’s most iconic smoked foods.
Presenter Russell Floyd visits a family‑run smokehouse in Craster, where third‑generation producer Alan explains how kippers are still made using time‑honoured methods. The film follows the process step by step — from preparing and hand‑gilling the herring, to brining, and finally smoking the fish for up to 18 hours using wood shavings and oak sawdust in a smokehouse darkened by 150 years of smoke.
Unlike many modern smoked fish products, these kippers are produced naturally, with no added dyes, relying on the fish’s natural oil content and careful smoking to achieve their distinctive colour and flavour.