Collioure anchovies

Salting fish is an ancient practice in Roussillon, and Collioure has made it its speciality. The PGI file mentions shipments of salted fish from the port as early as 1397, bound for the Levant, Genoa and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Anchovy salting subsequently became the town’s main activity and reached its peak around 1865. Faced with cheaper imported anchovies, a municipal order of 26 June 1885 reserved the “ville de Collioure” mark for local fish alone. Two family firms remain from this past: Roque, active since 1870, and Desclaux, present since 1903.

In the 19th century, fishing was carried out aboard Catalan boats, using drift nets. Authorised in the waters of Roussillon in 1926, lamparo fishing, which attracts shoals at night under a powerful light before encircling them with a purse seine, only became widespread after the Second World War. Fresh anchovies now come from the Gulf of Lion and the Atlantic coast; the season runs from May to October, and frozen fish is excluded.

The craft rests on gestures that are still largely manual. Pre-salted by size, the anchovies are placed in brine, then beheaded and gutted by hand. They are then arranged in a ring in barrels, in alternating layers with sea salt, under a weighted lid. Maturation lasts at least 100 days for Mediterranean anchovies and 120 days for Atlantic ones, which are fattier: the flesh takes on a brown to dark red colour and a supple texture. For fillets, the anchovies are desalted, skinned under fine jets of water, then filleted by hand.

Backed by an association founded in 1995 by the salters of Collioure, the protected geographical indication was registered by the European Commission on 24 June 2004. It covers three presentations, salted anchovies, fillets in brine and fillets in oil, and reserves processing to the commune of Collioure alone. At the table, Catalan cuisine serves them in salads, in fritters or as an aperitif; the great classic remains the anchovy “à la catalane”, on a slice of bread rubbed with tomato.