These Eva Adriatic Sardines in Vegetable Oil with Lemon were a new item at the local Mediterranean market. I've made a habit of checking there regularly for new tinned fish, and have made several interesting discoveries. Let's see how these are.
Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.9/5.
Nice looking, packed in tight. Skin a little roughed up but that's OK. No scales evident. A few tails, but that's to be expected from canneries in this area. A lot of sardines from Italy caught in the Adriatic and packed in Croatia also seem to come with tails left on. They're soft enough to either ignore or remove with the flick of a fork.
A sip of the oil has a nice, subtle but real lemony flavor. It's soybean oil, not really a problem, and it helps keep these at $2 a can.
Hauling them out over rice, they are tender and a bit fall-apart-y. There are seven fish total in this modest 3.5oz. tin. I've found this to be the case lately with sardines packed in Croatia. Looking online, these used to be 4oz. so a little shrinkflation going on. But still, 7 fish.
I poured the remaining oil over everything, using my fork to strain out any skin or other debris left in it. There's a real lemon slice there, and it retains some brightness of flavor.
These are quite tender, and the lemon flavor has infused everything well enough to give a good flavor experience throughout the entire can's worth.
Not too salty, the sodium listed is 410mg. I thought everything was well-balanced.
$2 for actual pilchards with lemon is an unbelievable bargain.
Main Takeaways
- Tender, flavorful fish
- Good lemon flavor throughout
- Super bargain for sardines with lemon
I'll be checking back for more of these. Hopefully, they won't run out before I get there. I also got some Eva Adriatic Sardines in Olive Oil, slightly higher in price, that I'm looking forward to trying.
Brand: Podravka USA / Eva
Description: Sardines in vegetable oil with lemon
Species: Clupea pilchardus (Sardina pilchardus)
Country of Origin: Croatia
Source: FAO37, Mediterranean Sea
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 3.5 oz.
Price Range: $2