Not just any can of sardines

Posted 05 August, 2024

Photo by Guy Harrop. Pic of decorative sardine tin special 60th year edition, Brittany, France © Guy Harrop http://guyharrop.com

When you talk of Breton food most people think of the fabulous buckwheat pancakes – galletes de sarrasin. They are delicious, preferably salée (a tradional buckwheat savoury pancake, very thin and folded , then filled with various cheese types, spinach, artichokes, eggs, creamy sauces, lardons, ham, mushrooms the varieties are endless. We all love them and we ate them several times on our recent Brittany trip, almost every village has a crêperie, and all washed down with a good glug of French cider.

Other Breton delicacies include the traditional Breton butter biscuits (Palets Breton – I remember the old grannies offering me these from decorated tins when I was younger) , indulgent pastries found in most patisseries, the many types of strawberries and daily fresh crabs and sea spiders at local fishing ports.

But whilst on the foodie trail around the coast what caught my eye the most was the colourful sardine tins for sale in several shops and also how good local supermarkets were at promoting the local sourced Breton produce.

One French brand I really like is ‘Les Mouettes d’Arvor’ owned by the Gonidec family. They have some great colourful designs, a good ethos and the last standing fish cannery in Concarneau, Brittany, one of France’s largest fishing ports. The sardines are fished seasonally in the spring months when the sardines are not too fat or lean.

The cannery buys all its fish from local fishermen, agreeing a guaranteed fixed price for the fish at the start of each season.

The fish are then prepared by hand in the traditional way – ice bathed, cleaned by hand then laid on racks to dry overnight. These are then fried in oil and packed into tins to keep their rich and buttery taste.

To celebrate their 60^th anniversary they launched a special collectors can in 2019, pictured and currently still selling like hotcakes in the supermarkets!

Have I broken into it, not just yet!