How much does anchovy fish cost (average price per 1 kg)?

Moscow and Moscow region.

Anchovy fish or otherwise European anchovy belongs to one of the 8 known varieties of anchovies. This schooling coastal fish, as a rule, inhabits the waters of the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, anchovy fish lives in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and in the warm season it often enters the North, Azov and Baltic Seas.

Externally, the anchovy fish is a small, low-bodied fish no more than 20 centimeters long, although there are also much smaller specimens - up to 15 centimeters. The color of the back of this fish varies from blue-green to black-gray, with the sides of the anchovy being distinguished by a white-silver color. A longitudinal strip of metallic luster may be observed along them.

Humanity has been familiar with anchovy fish since ancient times - the Romans and Greeks bought this fish from Crimean fishermen at the beginning of our era. According to the ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo, anchovy fish was highly valued and was the second most profitable foreign trade product after bread. And today, during excavations, archaeologists discover on the Crimean coast sinkers from the nets with which anchovy was previously caught, as well as vats in which this fish was salted.

The ancient Romans and Greeks adored the tender, tasty meat and the peculiar taste of anchovy fish, which is characterized by a slight bitterness. In ancient times, it was generally customary to salt it, after which it was used as food or even used to prepare a hot and sour sauce called garum. The calorie content of anchovy is about 88 kcal per hundred grams of fresh meat.

Today, anchovy fish has gained wide popularity among consumers not only due to its high taste, but also due to its availability. Nowadays, it still remains an important object of active fishing. Anchovy fish is sold mainly in salted form, although sometimes you can find a fresh-frozen version. This fish is used to make pates and stews, and it is added to pilaf and salads. Hamsa is often stuffed with olives, and in Italian cuisine it is used to make a very tasty and aromatic paste.

The benefits of anchovy

Anchovy fish is considered a fish delicacy - it can be safely consumed whole, along with small bones. Moreover, it is believed that this is the benefit of anchovy for human health, in particular its bone tissue. This small fish is an excellent product for people of different ages, because it contains high-value protein, and the nutritional value of anchovy is in no way inferior to meat. In addition, the beneficial properties of anchovy are due to the presence of vitamin PP and a number of microelements (zinc, chromium, fluorine, nickel and molybdenum).

The benefits of anchovy are also obvious due to the content of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. These substances in fish help reduce bad cholesterol levels and also prevent the formation of blood clots, improving the lipid profile. Another magical effect of Omega-3 acids is considered to be the ability to prevent malignant neoplasms and significantly slow down the process that has already begun.

Calorie content of anchovy fish 88 kcal

Energy value of anchovy fish (Ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates - bju):

: 17.5 g (~70 kcal)
: 2 g (~18 kcal)

Our ancestors loved to salt this fish in special vats. They liked anchovy for its interesting taste: the fish fillet is quite soft and tender, and has a slightly bitter taste. In addition to salting, this fish was also used to produce gurum sauce, which had a spicy and sour taste.

Today, anchovy is also highly revered by consumers. It deserves its attention not only for its taste, but also for its accessibility. However, it is sometimes difficult to find it in fresh form, since mostly salted anchovy is supplied to stores.

The calorie content of this fish is low - about 90 kcal per 100 g.

The benefits of anchovy

In general, anchovy is considered a wonderful delicacy from the sea. Its seeds are not very frequent, and most importantly, they are small, which does not prevent it from being eaten. Fish can be consumed almost entirely, and this is another plus.

Like other fish edible for humans, anchovy contains a considerable amount of useful substances, including micro- and macroelements such as zinc, phosphorus, calcium, molybdenum, chromium and fluorine. This set of minerals makes this fish useful to almost all people, regardless of their age and diet.

Hamsa is also nutritious, in this regard it can even be compared with beef, but fish protein is absorbed by the human body better than meat protein. There is no need to worry about your figure if you cook fish according to all dietary standards: boil or steam. In this case, its calorie content will be less than 100 kcal per 100 g, which allows you to get enough food.

Anchovy contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, which help remove excess cholesterol from the body and prevent the formation of blood clots. These same acids also affect the lipid spectrum and, importantly, reduce the risk of oncological tumors, the development of cardiovascular diseases, and kidney diseases. Even if these ailments already exist, eating anchovy helps slow down their development.

Anchovy also has special benefits for men. It has a beneficial effect on their potency, and this is especially noticeable with regular consumption of fish.

Application of anchovy

Since anchovy can most often be found in salted form, this is the main way to consume it. In appearance and even in taste, it resembles sprat, but differs from it in a more pleasant, delicate taste. Its meat color is also more pink. When salted, anchovy is loved by many consumers. Like other fish, it goes well with potatoes, baked or boiled.

Fresh anchovy can be processed in any way as other fish. Steam it, make soup from it, fry or bake it. But the cuisines of other countries use more sophisticated methods of preparing it. For example, you can make a pate or stew from it, use it as an ingredient in a salad, make a paste from it, or stuff it.

Harm of anchovy

This fish is not harmful to humans. However, do not forget that salted anchovy may not be very useful for those who have problems with the urinary system. Due to the high salt content, anchovy puts a strain on the internal organs, and if you have cardiovascular or kidney diseases, then in this case it is better not to eat salted anchovy at all.

Individual intolerance to the product is also possible, in which anchovy must be completely excluded from your diet.

Video

It would seem that they are very similar - small salted fish... However, both in taste and in dishes anchovy, anchovy and sprat- these are three big differences. If you don’t know about this, then you can easily get sprat under the guise of an anchovy.

How to distinguish anchovy from sprat and capelin

Anchovy is a subspecies of the Mediterranean anchovy Engraulis encrasicholus. Black Sea anchovy Engraulis encrasicholus ponticus smaller than anchovy, Azov anchovy Engraulis encrasicholus maeoticus- even smaller. It is very easy to recognize any anchovy (and therefore anchovy) by sight: the end (corner) of their mouth extends beyond the back end of their eye, if you count from the tip of the snout. Specifically, like this:

Sprat as well as sprat, so warmly recommended as an anchovy substitute, belong to the family Herring Clupeidae(and in appearance they are quite typical tiny herrings). For comparison, look at the picture:

Located on top capelin lies there for scale. Followed by 2 copies anchovy and 2 copies of the Black Sea sprat Clupeonella delicatula(which I would personally translate as “delicate herring”). There are about ten species of sprat in total, and not one of them is even distantly related to the anchovy. However, the differences in taste are much more important.

Subtleties of taste of anchovy and sprat

Anchovy significantly fattier than sprat, and the chemical composition of anchovy fats is very different from the chemical composition lipids sprat.

The second difference is in the cooking methods. Sprat It is sold mainly spicy salted, in barrels or in preserves. Hamsa is salted without adding spices, so as not to distort its unique taste. Here she is in the photo:

What is lightly salted anchovy and what is it eaten with?

Occasionally you can find fresh frozen anchovy, and then you can’t hesitate - defrost it, then add not too much salt, mix it properly in a container or glass jar, cover it with parchment and put it in the refrigerator for a week. The result is tenderness embodied.

Anchovy but, despite the family relationship with anchovy, it is salted completely differently, not like sprat and not like anchovy. Firstly, manufacturers deliberately and very strongly over-salt. Secondly, anchovy the ambassador is a very long one, at least six months, or even a year. During this time, a radical process of protein fermentation occurs, and the tender anchovy flesh acquires a dense, rough texture. This is how the anchovy, when fairly hardened, is sold. This is how they add it to pizza and salad. nicoise, V spaghetti.

Personally, I prefer spicy-salted sprat and lightly salted anchovy in a gourmet style: with black coffee, carefully removing the fillet halves from the backbone with the tine of a fork. Or classically: with a glass of ice-cold vodka, when you can simply take the fish by the head with two fingers, and even pull the flesh off the spine with your teeth. Otherwise, eat it like that, with all the bones.

Anchovy stew

During the anchovy fishing season, a dish called “stew” is popular in Kerch - and it seems that it is not prepared anywhere else. In a deep frying pan, sauté onions and sweet peppers, then lay out a layer of anchovy 3-4 cm thick, and crumble tomatoes on top - as much as you want. Sometimes finely chopped and fried carrots and (or) also a layer of raw potatoes, cut into thin circles, are added between the onions, peppers and fish. All layers are salted; You can also trim a little hot pepper. Then pour a glass of water into the frying pan, cover with a lid and place on low heat. After 20-25 minutes, the Kerch stew is ready. And when the residents of Kerch say “stew”, they do not mean canned meat, but precisely this.

Today is not a typical review for me, about FISH! Yes, about fish, I saw that on Airek there is not a single review about KHAMSE and decided to write.

In fact, I am not a fish eater; I feel fine without fish. I don’t like to clean fish, and I don’t even know how to clean some fish properly or what can be cooked from it. But it so happens that I live near the sea and am gradually adapting to the local food habits.

Anchovy This is one of the varieties of European anchovy. In autumn, anchovy from the Sea of ​​Azov swims en masse to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait and lies in wintering pits. Anchovy fishing takes place from October to May, but the anchovy harvested in the autumn season is considered the most delicious.

The most common way to prepare anchovy is lightly salted anchovy.

Preparation: Fresh anchovy is generously sprinkled with regular rock salt and waited for 4-6 hours, washed in cold water and eaten, for example, with boiled potatoes. Local residents eat anchovy within 1 hour after it is salted.

The photo shows lightly salted anchovy, I like to peel it from the backbone in advance and eat it with clean hands, but few people do this, they usually clean it and eat it right away.

Another option for preparing anchovy is fresh anchovy stew.

​Preparation: fresh anchovy, rinse in water, remove the head and intestines, leave the ridge or remove it - if desired, I leave it. Fry onions and fresh tomatoes in a frying pan, then place the prepared anchovy on top, add salt, pepper and bay leaf. Fill with water so that the anchovy is lightly covered with liquid and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid closed. Everything is ready. You just need to eat it with bread.

And the last option for today - "chips" from anchovy.

Preparation : fresh anchovy, rinse in water, remove the head and intestines, leaving the backbone. Salt, pepper, roll in flour and fry in a large amount of oil, like chips or French fries. Everything is ready. The result is such a crispy, tasty fish that goes great with beer. She's like sunflower seeds, you won't calm down until you eat them all)

Prices for anchovy vary from 50 rubles during poutine to 200 rubles before the start of poutine per 1 kilogram.

We sell fresh and lightly salted anchovy at the grocery market in fish aisles, and in stores you can find lightly salted hamsa in buckets like this.

I often hear that lightly salted anchovy tastes like black caviar, but I can’t confirm it, I haven’t compared it. The greatest similarity is achieved in this way: they make a bread and butter sandwich, put lightly salted anchovy on top (peeled from the head, intestines and backbone) and wash it all down with sweet tea. Like this.

Kerchan residents cannot live without fish, they constantly eat - anchovy, sprat, herring, pilengas, red mullet, goby, horse mackerel, mullet, garfish, flounder and a bunch of other fish that I don’t remember.

Before the start of the autumn season for anchovy, the local population begins to feel withdrawal symptoms; everyone wants anchovy.

Conclusions: An excellent fish that does not require peeling, is simple, quick to process and prepare. Many options for preparing fresh fish. I recommend trying it.

Conclusions for yourself: This is one of the types of fish that I “not a fish eater” enjoy eating and cooking, which I will continue to do in the future.

Tip of the day: At home, salted anchovy, not washed of salt, can simply be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month in a glass jar under a plastic lid.

Interesting facts:

1. According to information from old-timers, during the Second World War, people survived thanks to fish that were caught in the sea, mostly anchovy. In 1947, anchovy in Kerch cost 1 ruble per bucket; residents salted it in large wooden barrels under a load, then soaked it and consumed it until the next season. Therefore, Kerch avoided famine even during the war.
2. The indigenous Kerchans call anchovy kamsa, but I couldn’t find out why.
3. During Putin, prices and sales of meat drop by 30% for anchovy in the city.

Thank you for your attention