Anchovies

Anchovies

The anchovy is an ocean going fish species found in a large range of environments. It has been a popular source of food for humans since Roman times, when the fish was used in a wide variety of dishes including a fermented fish sauce called garum. The anchovy is a dark, oily fish related to herring. It is a small silvery fish with a greenish tint. The anchovy rarely exceeds five inches (12 centimeters) in length. Anchovies travel in large schools of fish, making them easy to harvest for human and animal predators alike. The anchovy generally eats plankton, and in turn provides food for a wide range of marine species, some of which follow schools of anchovies to ensure a consistent source of nutrition.

            There is wild variation in the quality of anchovies, because there are a handful of varieties and because anchovy makers range from small artisan operations to huge factories. Most anchovies come from the Atlantic, north of Cantabria in Spain; the Mediterranean; and the Pacific and Atlantic near South America. According to Globefish, which tracks marketing trends for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2000 Morocco was the largest producer of canned anchovies, followed by Spain. The best anchovies are considered by many to be those from off the coast of Spain, where the water is cold and the plankton is rich.

Because the anchovy has been heavily fished for centuries, some stocks of the fish are at risk. With the advent of commercial trawler fishing, scientists began to realize that anchovies faced an environmental crisis, and recommended that controls be put in place on anchovy fishing before it was too late. As a result, many nations have begun to regulate anchovy fishing more closely, well aware of the result of overfishing of a kingpin species which nourishes numerous larger predatory fish.

Anchovy is most often consumed preserved, and the fish are frequently brined or packed in oil so that they can be used year round. Anchovies are sometimes found packed in salt, in which case they should be soaked and rinsed before consumption. The fish are preserved with bones intact, because they are small and soft enough to be eaten along with the fish and the size of anchovies is such that fillets are not realistically possible.

The anchovy is rich in healthy omega-3 acid and the dark flesh doesn’t carry as much mercury as many white fleshed species. Anchovy provides a distinctive and complex flavor which can be an outstanding addition to many Mediterranean dishes, where the fish has been popularly integrated for centuries.