We started the gourmet products category about two years ago and since then we have greatly increased the range on offer, with canned fish being one of the most successful categories among our members.
Whether it's canned tuna, where Santa Catarina and its Azorean tuna is undoubtedly the big winner, or canned sardines, where the canning industry dates back to 1880 with the first fish factory preserved by sterilization and which spread all along the Portuguese coast.
Between 1933 and 1960, canned sardines accounted for 13 per cent of the value of exports and around 16 per cent of the working population in the Portuguese industry. From Matosinhos in the north to Olhão in the south, entire towns made their living from fishing and the canned sardines played an important role in Portuguese families' diets.
The canned sardine, exclusively from the species Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum), of the Clupeidae family, is a fish with a great source of fatty acids, such as Omega 3, and loaded with vitamins and minerals, especially when cooked in sea salt and preserved in olive oil.
It's also a good option for quick meals, either straight from the can, with boiled potatoes and onions, or accompanying various salads, passing through more or less composed appetizers and ending up in much more elaborate dishes (rissoles, pies, stuffed pies, etc.).
In our selection of products you'll find the best combinations of this very Portuguese fish, whether in vegetable oil, olive oil, with tomato sauce, with more refined sauces or in pates that just call for bread or toast.
