Safe Catch Archives

Yep, I did it again. Bought sardines in water. Not paying attention to the small print right there on the carton: Safe Catch Wild Sardines in Water. Oh, well, let's see how they are.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.2/5.

I thought the version on olive oil with lemon were OK, so I hoped these wouldn't be a total disappointment.

They have that pallid look I think sardines in water often have. At first there appear to be only two huge pilchards, another minus. The aroma is a bit fishy. A cautious sip of the packing liquid tastes like a salty broth.

Digging In

Pulling the fish from the can, there are three more smaller ones hiding under the large pair. I'm not used to seeing this much inconsistency in size, fish-to-fish, in a single can. They are a bit "fall-apart-y" as I lift them out. There are a couple of tails and some scales here and there. For reasons I'm not quite sure, I poured a couple of tablespoons-worth of the liquid over the fish and rice,

Some of the first bites have a good sardine flavor, but there's a dryness to the meat. Continuing on, the rest of the tin I can only characterize as unremarkable. I briefly considered adding something to liven things up a bit, but ended up not doing so.

The fish are not as salty as the liquid tasted, the listed sodium being a lower than average 280mg.

Once again, it was impossible to find these or any sardines on Safe Catch's own website. They've been around long enough to have had a packaging redesign, so I'm not sure what the story is.

Main Takeaways

Inconsistent fish size
Tender, but dry
Really need to read labels

Brand: Safe Catch
Description: Sardines in water
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Morocco
Source: FAO34, Eastern Central Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4.4 oz.
Price Range: $4-5

These Safe Catch Wild Sardines in Olive Oil with Lemon were a new item at a local independent supermarket. New enough that I wasn't able to find an image of the carton online anywhere. Not even on the Safe Catch website, which makes no mention of them selling sardines at all. Puzzling.

I thought the "bone-in with skin" banner was odd. Usually, that's assumed if other than boneless/skinless.

Initial impression upon opening the can: 4.8/5.

Some husky pilchards. No scales apparent, and the skin is in reasonably nice condition. Fresh aroma from the can. A sip of the oil hints at the lemon.

Let's Dig In

There are five fish total in the deep tin. A slice of lemon in the bottom still retains some brightness of flavor. The fish tended to break in two somewhat as they were lifted from the can. I poured the remaining olive oil in the tin over everything, hoping to maximize any lemon flavor.

The first bite is both good and bad. The meat is tender, almost too tender to the point of maybe mushy, but not quite. It's acceptably moist, but not what I would characterize as juicy. The bad part is the clump of scales stuck to the roof of my mouth, but it only happened one more time after, so not a deal breaker. There was also some random detritus I couldn't identify that kind of diminished the overall experience.

I thought they could have been a little saltier, sodium is an average 310mg. It might have also perked up the lemon, which was subtle but detectable throughout.

At the $4.39 price point, I expected a little better processing, e.g. the scales and detritus. Hopefully, it's just not a representative sample can.

Main Takeaways

Tender, moist fish, but maybe borderline mushy
A little more lemon flavor would have helped
Some unwelcome scales and mystery bits

Brand: Safe Catch
Description: Sardines in olive oil with lemon
Species: Sardina pilchardus
Country of Origin: Morocco
Source: FAO34, Eastern Central Atlantic
Skin/Bones: Yes/Yes
Net Wt: 4.4 oz.
Price Range: $4-5