Dear Christian and Peter,
As an Australian living in Ireland, I can't run down to the shop and read
the anchovy can. But I suspect it's the same product Peter mentions- what I
ate often as a child in Australia was a small fish that came out of a can,
was shelf stable forever it seemed (Mums always had cans ready for Sunday
night dinner on toast)and was oily and salty. I am sure this product
originated in sthn Europe and was not Australian made.
It was called a tinned sardine. In Australia there is not much understanding
by the consumer of the difference between sardines/anchovies and pilchards
-all just small fish.
But for a while we did have an Australian made product called an AUSCHOVY.
This was a product created and made by the Mendolian (sorry for any
mis-spellings) family in Fremantle near Perth. They did use a real anchovy
and did use a process very similar to the traditional Italian salting/curing
process that took months. It was sold as shelf stable in a can but it had
not gone thru the 'canning' process but as salted traditionally and place in
a can and sealed with different sauces. But I doubt weather many, if any,
consumers understood the difference between the processing of the std
"canned sardine".
Then all of the fish got a virus and suddenly there were no anchovies to be
caught and the business died overnight. They may be back in business by now.
These products got a lot of publicity and won many awards.
I am sure there are some Aussies on the list who will know if Auschovies are
being made again.
Thanks
Clare Winkel
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf
Of P Howgate
Sent: 20 July 2007 11:29
To: seafood@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Re: 'canned' Anchovy - shelf stable or must refrigerate?
Christian does not tell us where 'here' is - see Pam's recent message about
not being able to deduce the country of origin from the e-mail address - but
I see from an Internet search that it seems to be Canada. I live in Britain
and I have in front of me a can of 'Anchovy fillets in olive oil', net wt.
50g, drained wt. 35g product of Morocco. They are made in other
Mediterranean countries other than Morocco - I have seen the process
underway in Spain - and in South America. The product is very salty, but I
like them despite the current nutrition police campaign to reduce salt in
the diet, and is the product presumably of 14% salt concentration already
mentioned in this thread and defined in the Multilingual Dictionary of Fish
and Fish Products as: 'headless gutted or whole ungutted anchovies packed in
salt in barrels and allowed to ripen for about four months at temperatures
up to 30degCuntil the flesh has reddened right through: as semipreserves,
sold whole, filleted in oil or sauce, flat or rolled with or without capers;
packed in cans, glass jars etc. ... '. If what you are selling in Canada is
this product then it is shelf stable and need not be held under
refrigeration. I see the 'best before end' date on the can I have is Nov
2008, and the product is sold on the open shelves in shops here in Britain.
In all the many years I have been buying this product I have never seen it
offered other than on open shelves. Delicatessen shops and delicatessen
counters in supermarkets sell a marinated anchovy fillet product which seems
to come from Italy judging from the type of shop that sells it. Judging from
the taste it is only lightly salted and I assume it is predominately the
vinegar that exerts some preservative action. It is intended as an antipasto
ingredient. Because this product is sold loose - at least at retail level -
and not prepackaged I have not seen a shelflife date or advice on storage
for it. I don't expect it to have a long shelf life and I hold it in the
refrigerator at home, but we have usually scoffed within a day or two
anyway. These marinated fillets are available in jars or plastics containers
from mail order companies and would then be labelled with a shelflife date,
but I have never bought any this way so can not tell you what it is. May
Italian recipes ask for preserved anchovies, e.g. spaghetti alla putanesca,
but it is never clear if they mean the hard salted, ripened product, or the
marinaded one, though I tend towards the former. Can any Italian reader
clarify for me?
Best wishes
Peter Howgate
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christian Vogl" <cvogl@shafer-haggart.com>
To: <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:11 PM
Subject: 'canned' Anchovy - shelf stable or must refrigerate?
We have a customer in Australia who tells us that anchovy in cans
(packed in oil) are sold 'shelf stable' there.
Here, we refrigerate them.
It was always my understand that this was required because of the lack
of thermal processing. But if this is the case, how can Australian
stores market them on the shelves instead of the cooler?
Any thoughts appreciated!
Best regards,
Christian
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