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In America, there isn’t always a positive association with seafood and cans. To be fair, the canned food aisle has served us some real dreck over the years, with shreds of water-packed tuna sometimes calling itself “chicken.” (Insert Jessica Simpson joke.) But if you’re having tapas in Spain, you’ll enjoy a world of conservas with delightful cans of mussels, mackerel, sardines and more at the ready. These aren’t afterthoughts at the bottom shelf of aisle four, these are delicacies in their own right.
With the help of companies like Fishwife, the reputation for tinned seafood is changing in America. Co-founders Caroline Goldfarb and Becca Millstein created Fishwife in 2020 to make their own line of sustainable, high quality conservas, like their smoked rainbow trout and wild-caught smoked albacore.
Starting last fall the duo partnered with one of our favorite salmon farms Kvarøy Arctic to make a canned smoked salmon. This Norwegian aquaculture operation raises fish in the pristine waters along the Arctic Circle, producing delicious, rich and buttery salmon. And it also ensures the provenance of its product through blockchain technology that traces the salmon from the aquaculture farm to its final destination.
Fishwife is sourcing product from Kvarøy, curing it in extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, garlic salt and brown sugar and then smoking it over a mix of beech, maple and birch wood. The smoke doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of Kvarøy’s fish, making it an appetizer you can snack on right out of the can, serve as part of appetizers for your next party or do what I like to do: Take a big slab of rustic country sourdough bread, lightly toast it, then heap on the tinned fish with a drizzle of olive oil, a smattering of pickled red onions and a sprinkle of sea salt. So whether you’re entertaining or snacking, it’s a product you want to keep in your pantry.
