Delicius Anchovies are Delicious

By   Molisana Imports   Tags:   Category: Blog

May 18, 2017

You might not appreciate the salty taste of anchovies, but maybe you haven’t had Delicius’ fantastic anchovies. The Rizzoli family have dedicated centuries to preparing the best anchovies on the market, and the taste speaks for itself. Delicius anchovies are the best in the world! Did you know that where anchovies come from effects how they look and taste? The species of anchovy that we eat is the European anchovy, so they are all the same fish, just changed by the water they live in.

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The Aegean Sea is close to the Black Sea, and anchovies fished here are often smaller and have a rich, tangy flavour. The Strait of Sicily is where the most delicious Anchovies are said to come from, with pink flesh and a fragrance said to be like ham. The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean, and the anchovies fished here are full-bodied with a salty aftertaste. The colouring is slightly more caramel though they are pink as well. There are two other waters European anchovies are fished from – the Cantabrian sea, which grows thick and meaty fish with lots of flavour, and the Atlantic Ocean or Coast of Morocco, where the anchovies are slightly brown in colour with a pleasant bitter hint to the strong flavour.

Of course, where the anchovies come from isn’t the only thing that changes the quality of them – the preservation techniques are very important. The first stage in preserving anchovies is to salt them. Delicius has a serious inspection at this stage, ensuring the eyes, gills, gloss of the skin, and compactness are all checked. Any spoiled or stale fish would ruin the rest of the process. A master salter will process the fresh fish, and must work quickly to keep them as fresh as possible. The first step for them is to behead the fish, with a slight twist of a wrist with expert precision. The fish are then washed in brine, then laid out to be salted. The fish are salted just the perfect amount, needing an expert touch and master experience. They are left to cure after this for several months.

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The second step is the filleting, where skilled filleters work by hand. They must take a nine-month apprenticeship before they can pack anchovy fillets for Delicius! A lot of extra care goes into packing them. It is essential that the anchovies be laid so that their fibres are parallel in the direction they will be rolled up in to prevent breaking. They are delicately sorted by size, and then placed in the cans by hand. The only part of the process of making Delicius anchovies that is done by machine is sealing the cans. Everything else requires too much delicacy and must be done by hand, by gentle fingers that will not damage the flesh of the fish.

Delicius also protects a secret recipe for their spicy sauce – the spicy anchovies are one of the most popular products they make. The sauce is just the right amount of spice without overpowering the fleshiness and the flavour of the anchovies.

This is how Delicius makes the best, most authentic tasting anchovies. Even if you don’t think you like anchovies, give these ones a try – they are in their own school! Every single step is done with the utmost care, and the flavour shows it.

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