A heretofore unknown brand to me, I got these Conchita Sardines in Tomato Sauce at my local supermarket, where they appeared as a new item. Sourced from Spain, I was confident they would be pilchards, so the main question was, how would the tomato sauce stand up? Let's find out.
Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.8/5.
The carton is bilingual. If you flip it over, everything's in Spanish. I note they've opted to avoid the Prop 65 issue altogether by not being for sale in California. The tin is one of those stiff, hard-to-open types, but I remove the lid without incident.
Not bad looking at all. A couple still have tails, and I see some pelvic fins. But the skin looks silvery and bright. A sip of the red-tinged oil is a bit bland and vegetal. The aroma is of tomato and it overrides any scent of fish.
Digging In
I got ahead of myself and took a bite of fish before taking the photo. What initially looked like three fish turned out to be four. The skin has an irridescent shine through the tomato sauce clinging to it. I see no scales, but would eventually find one or two.
From prior experience, I used a fork to whisk the remaining separated oil and tomato component back together before pouring it all over the fish. There are some small bits of tomato in it, which is encouraging. The ingredients list onion and spices in addition to tomato and salt. The sauce being warmed by the hot rice has bloomed those flavors a bit. It doesn't seem too salty, even with the sodium clocking in at 472mg.
I find the meat reasonably tender and moist enough. But the sauce was still uninspiring, so I added a few drops of Valentina to spice up the last fish. As I've noted previously, I think a lot of vendors are missing the boat by not marketing a spicy tomato version.
Main Takeaways
- Meaty and moist pilchards
- Bland tomato sauce
- Decent value
For $3.29, I didn't come away too disappointed. These were worth the try and the price, IMO.
Brand: Conchita Foods
Description: Sardines in tomato sauce
Species: Pilchards
Country of Origin: Spain
Source: FAO27, Northeast Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4 oz.
Price Range: $3