Do not read further if you get grossed out easily.
tepa (sg) tepet (pl) tepii (literally: "smell, odor, aroma") = stinkheads, stink heads, stinky heads, aged fish head
Traditionally, most people make tepa in the summer. Heads of fish including pectoral fins) of chinook, sokeye, chum, and occasionally, coho (silver) salmon were prepared by burying them in the ground and allowed them to ferment before eating. The traditional way to prepare tepa was to bury the heads in the ground along with most of the fish guts in a wooden barrel covered with burlap material. Earthern pits lined with grass were used for this process. Salmon milt and eggs were added to the heads which were then covered with another layer of grass before being covered over with earth. The fermenting process took from one to two weeks depending on temperature of the ground To the Native it's like candy or bubblegum, sweet and sour, in between the two.
However, with the introduction of plastic buckets, the danger of botulism has surfaced and medical professionals stress the importance of avoiding these types of modern containers since the "old-fashioned" methods allowed oxygen to circulate and prevented the growth of bacteria which causes botulism. Heads stored underground in plastic bags are more likely to develop botulism than fish stored in grasses. The traditional method of preparing the tepas is safer than the modern way