Description
Ingredients: Sardines (Sardina pilchardus), olive oil, spicy aroma, and salt
The terms “spiced” and “spicy” are used pretty much interchangeably in the tinned fish world, to mean two different things: with a hot pepper (or hot pepper flavor), and with cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper. There are many examples of both terms being used to mean both things.
We are so frustrated by how widespread this confusing inconsistent usage is that we’ve gone through our entire product line to correct the incorrect ones such that our description of “spiced” or “spicy” will always indicate which it really is, regardless of the packaging. “Spicy” = with hot pepper flavor. “Spiced” = with the cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper flavors.
jfeyes (verified owner) –
High quality sardines with an excellent flavor! But…..not at all spicy!
Evan Viviano (verified owner) –
Great can of sardines. Not spicy at all but I don’t think I’ve ever had “spicy” sardines that are actually spicy. Thats what the hot sauce is for. Anyway, excellent quality fish – tasted great, great texture and looked beautiful. Will be ordering these again
Anne Martin (verified owner) –
These sardines were beautiful to look at and the spicy olive oil was pleasantly mild. Texture was firm and not mushy. Oil was tasty as a dip with crackers and bread. I liked these and think they would be a great tin for a shared plate spread since the fish are small and many as well as their consistent quality. I think this tin might bring a few converts to the tinned fish cause.
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
Pretty good tin. Spicy level is a 1.5 out of 5 but aside from that issue, not too much to complain about here. Fish quality is excellent albeit more scales than I expected, texture is an easy-to-eat medium with nice flake, moisture is average and not objectionable in any way. I enjoyed this one despite longing for more heat.
The main draw here is that you don’t often find small, unsmoked sardines that try to be spicy and I respect that. If this was a little cheaper, it might compete for a semi-regular spot in the rotation but for me, not quite enough wow factor to compensate for the cost. However, it’s definitely worth trying at least once – just be sure to have some additional hot sauce handy and you’ll enjoy this one.
Matt (verified owner) –
I was slightly let down by the lack of heat/spices in this tin. Donāt get me wrong, the fish were gorgeous and very tasty, however they were a bit softer than I like. Ate these with some friends on a crusty sourdough and sharp cheddar. I think next time Iāll spring the couple extra dollars for the Espinaler premium baby deens, but that might be more of a personal preference. Still a high quality tin just not fully what I was expecting!
samchakmakian (verified owner) –
Saved this tin to enjoy with loved ones on vacation as part of a lunch spread. It was fantastic. I’m not going to lie, as the other reviewers have said, these deens aren’t very spicy. Despite that, the quality of the fish was exquisite- lovely firm, moist, small sardines without any scales and woven neatly in the can. Just a high class tin from start to finish. Probably a little pricey to have all the time but nice to get form time to time, assuming you’re alright with the pretty low spice level.
jcharlesw (verified owner) –
These sardines were a little more beat up in the can than some of the sardines I’ve had, but this in no way detracted from the flavor, which was excellent. The flesh was firm, but did tend to fall apart when extracting them from the can. The spice level, as most reviewers have noted, was low, but added a very nice background note. Salt level was just about perfect. I tried these with a couple different flavors of Triscuits, the low salt ones were my favorite with them. I had a few with a dab of mustard, and decided they were better without it as it was masking the outstanding flavor of the sardines, and ended up just adding a splash of Salsa Espinaler (which is also not spicy, but adds great flavor).