Why are Anchovies SO MUCH Saltier Than Other Fish? | Food Unwrapped

Matt Tebbutt investigates what makes anchovies such a salt fish to eat, especially when compared to other fish.
Food Unwrapped Season 6 Episode 4
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Our team of intrepid presenters (Jimmy Doherty, Kate Quilton, Matt Tebbut, Helen Lawal, Andi Oliver, Amanda Byram and Briony May Williams) travel the world uncovering unusual, intriguing and surprising secrets behind the food we eat.
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[@leha1908]

The last time I got eviscerated, covered in olive oil and stuffed into a can with my family and friends, I was a little salty too.

[@supercyberfunk]

*Cue rimshot.

[@nikobellic570]

Happens to me all the time. I'm super salty

[@harryv6752]

Bruh... 🤘😄

[@Fourside__]

"i dont know but i could google it for ya" lmao im dying xD

[@tarnvedra9952]

Give that woman a raise!

[@Axeman369]

That got me too, love the Glaswegian accent hahaahaha

[@andrewwigham3026]

The polite way of saying just use google lmao

[@chrisoberg6888]

They're salty because of...salt? Who would've known smh

[@KevinKickChannel]

Yea but not the reason why they salt it for you smh

[@ww2airborne]

only 0:10 seconds in and "expert" says "We know sea water is 98% salt" in reality is 3.5%...

[@derrickbonsell]

Fish in the ocean aren't salty because like most vertebrates they can control the salt content of their blood and bodily fluids.

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

@@royr1016 They are, but you have to restrict your diet of anchovies.

[@Seminolerick]

A pizza is incomplete without a herd of anchovies gracing the top !

[@TheFairyDickmother]

@@MichaelTheophilus906 Get out of here sicko

[@jeffsmith2022]

Amen to that brother...

[@xtreme_survival7879]

@@MichaelTheophilus906 Next ur going to say put some pineapple on the pizza!!! Anchovy on pizza a must!!!

[@OOOOOO-dx7zu]

@@xtreme_survival7879 even better, anchovies and pineapple on pizza. very delicious

[@threestepssideways1202]

I like my anchovy herds with schools of olives.

[@WarsunGames]

I knew people where lying. They said Anchovies where salty from the start. An i said. that was impossible. The amount of salt in Anchovies is so toxic at a level that there is no way it would live in the ocean at that level. I was right. They Salt the Anchovies. We normally get ours fresh. So I was right to be angry to get old Anchovies from a can when i wanted fresh.

[@MrSang-py3dd]

Tropical anchovies are more sweet than salty.

[@veritasexperience7765]

nah u lying

[@1233-p5f]

The salted and cured ones in a can are my favourite. As far as fresh goes, I prefer slightly larger sardines.

[@HSOON38]

In Arab gulf countries we make sauce out of anchovies and we eat it with bread. I think the recipe is Portuguese in origin and we came in touch with it with the Portuguese invasion

[@alejandroojeda1572]

We eat them in iberia so it checks

[@HSOON38]

@@alejandroojeda1572 do you have this recipe till this day?

[@alejandroojeda1572]

@@HSOON38 we have anchovy pate, but I think that's more modern. Either way I'm not Portuguese, so they may have it over there.

[@argentosebastian]

Bagna calda. Italian fondue with anchovies, garlic and cream. It's delicious.

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

Used to get anchovy essence back in the Fifties, that I used to like on toast. Seldom see it nowadays.

[@xtreme_survival7879]

mmmmmm jarred anchovies in olive oil stacked on toasted Italian Bread... My mouth is watering!

[@brolymc9532]

Thats a good idea

[@nax1807]

use seeded farmhouse malt bread or garlic chiabatta

[@SIMONWINTER-m6d]

If you hear your door knocking it's me !!

[@meryemmeryouma]

I was just eating it like you said and when I read your comment I took my last bite but I added a hot paper paste and green onion with algerian bread called matlou'e مطلوع it was a very tasty snack

[@bobkelley8291]

Before I start this video I will say what I learned living in the Philippines for years. Small salted fish and salted prawns are fresh prawn and fish that are caught in fine nets then weighted asap and sea salt added according to weight. This way they will last a long time. They must have the correct ratio. Now I will watch the video and see how wrong I am. LOL

[@jamanak123]

In Mindanao and Visayas area that salted and fermented fish are called Ginamos or Guinamos. The tiny shrims or frawns are called uyap. I am from Philippines now living in 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, and I am now having my breakfasr of scrambled eggs with ginamos as side dish with lemon, onions and garlic. Perfect to my taste.

[@SL-vs7fs]

“Taste great with a point of water.” 😂😂😂👍🏾

[@arthas640]

I always assumed its because people mostly eat canned anchovies where they're salted to drive out moisture and to act as a preservative in addition to the normal flavor enhancement

[@arthas640]

@@MichaelTheophilus906 I think it's because they said sardines go rancid in as little as a day. I have some experience in commercial fishing and they don't always bring their catch in same day, sometimes its brought in daily but it may sit in a hold for a couple days before getting brought in for processing (that way they can stay at sea fishing for multiple days without returning to port). They probably put them on ice or keep them alive in the hold, one of the two. Then the fish probably sit in a refrigerated processing facility for an indeterminate amount of time after that while being processed. If the fish can spoil in as little as a day they probably salt them ASAP so that way they dont spoil before getting canned. It could be that they COULD can them without salting them but they've probably been salting them like this for decades so people probably expect the fish to be salted, sort of like how we can make uncured bacon but everyone's gotten used to cured bacon so that's 99% of what you find in stores now. It could also be that with such small, soft, oil fish that the meat might get mushy from the heat treatment during canning. Salting or drying meat or vegetables shrinks them up and makes them hold together later when cooked, so salting them before canning might help them keep their natural shape and texture too.

[@tomevans4402]

Love these little fish, good job

[@handl3_me]

6 to 12 months soaked in salt, hence the saltiness

[@scottmalkinson9545]

Cheers 👌🏻

[@swordofgod117]

Stale fishes

[@kirkoneill725]

I love anchovies. Especially on pizza.

[@FTWdulaney]

@Mr. Gamerplayer and vlogs you’re ew

[@dougaltolan3017]

And pineapple.

[@jeffsmith2022]

Some more than others, I add them to every pizza I eat and sometimes just eat them straight out of the can...

[@genekelly8467]

Almost all the anchovies sold in the USA are from Morocco-and so heavily slated that they taste like fish flavored salt. I understand the Italian anchovies are less salty-haven't been able to find any, though.

[@khap60]

so everybody wears gloves and closed shoes only the youtuber wears flip flop and no gloves! Amazing!

[@ritparent7239]

at 0:49 when the the processing line is hard at work gutting them, are the anchovies already cooked? Or are they still live? Or are they dead but raw and uncooked???

[@EhsanMusic]

They are dead and raw. I think they cook when being fermented

[@feiwong70]

1:15 love her accent!

[@ronaldmcdonald8303]

You can go to Tesco's deli and get filleted anchovies out a bowl, their no where near as salty as the tinned ones and quite mild. I love BOTH, but sometimes I like the milder ones after eating the salty anchovies for a while!

[@alexanderabrashev1366]

I'm in England too and I love the taste of canned anchovies, but when I first tried them last year, I couldn't believe how inhumanly salty they are. Like literally one anchovy piece needs one cup of water... I've never tried fresh ones tho

[@ronaldmcdonald8303]

@@alexanderabrashev1366 Their delicious, mild and pleasant too. Most people who say they don't like anchovies would probably like the fresh ones. I don't like coriander though, even though the whole world seems to absolutely adore it. Coriander to me tastes like dish soap.

[@alanstrong55]

Anchovy pizza is liked by some. I have yet to try that topping.

[@JustMiaMakingStuff]

I first heard of anchovies from futurama

[@gregggoldstein3449]

Now i am curious when adding olive oil to these fish in tins if the oil reverses the salt’s job to remove the fishes own oil while vacuum packed causes the anchovy to go bad? I purchased 5 tins of anchovies and 3 jars of anchovies, both in olive oil and after a couple months at room trmperature the jars leaked? And the sealed tins of anchovies expanded? When i opened one of the tins it squirted oil all over me and had a very rancid odor. All my other tins the fish meat in them such as herring, Snapper, Salmon were still fresh? Though stored exactly the same?

[@markdexter6338]

Those workers in the back looks like their souls have left them long time ago 😂

[@walboyfredo6025]

1:46 By rights he shouldn't be allowed in the food processing area qith such foot ware!

[@Mark-zu6oz]

Love anchovies!

[@thivesennayager6278]

How is this even feasible to fly to Italy and back with crew, for a few minutes to find out something is salty because they use salt, which is written on the can. 🤣

[@meryemmeryouma]

I do salting anchovies at home but just for 20 days or a month then I rinse the salt and dry it with a paper towel then replace it in a jar with olive oil After days I start to eat it with hot paper past some green onion believe I can't get enough of it

[@roufdrapht]

All this production quality for 8 comments and under 2k views. Something doesn't add up

[@MrMarko4]

Definitely something fishy going on

[@MrMarko4]

@@agnel47 I was making a fish pun.... obviously that went over your head

[@superfluidity]

It's a TV show.

[@trapezius77]

Fresh sardines are sold whole around the world, and they are small and oily too, so there is no reason fresh anchovies can't be sold.

[@dongargon763]

They only eat them because they are one of the few fish left in the Mediterranean, in my country we don’t eat them but we see huge schools of them all the time and we sometimes use them for bait same with pilchards and squid to catch dory ,snapper and kingfish .its sad that commercial overfishing and pollution will one day reduce us all to eating only bait fish and squid.

[@willowsloughdx]

This is much the same method for curing anchovies used in ancient Rome. Roman legionaries brought anchovies with them to Britain. The also brought bottles of colatura with them. This is the salty, fishy liquid that drained from the anchovy curing barrels. It was used to make bland tasting foods in their diet more flavorful.

[@Apple_Apporu]

Garum or liquamen good stuff

[@wemcal]

Great video

[@markiangooley]

Every anchovy I’ve eaten in my life has been canned and I suspect that every one was canned in Morocco. That’s where the American market seems to get them all... almost. I’ve been to an Italian market in south Florida that offers fresh ones sometimes, though expensive enough that I haven’t yet bought any.

[@alejandroojeda1572]

Here in Spain it's pretty common. We call the fish boquerón. In the north they make really good anchovies with them, in the south they pickle them and all around we eat them fried or baked. And I suspect almost all come from Morocco, as do the sardines.

[@mickeywakefield]

Anchovies are called acciughe in Italian when they are salted. The same fish, without being salted are called alici. The fact that we don’t have a separate word for them is why some recipes in English of Italian favorites don’t work. I love anchovies- but alici are a great, cheap fish for all kinds of recipes and snacks too. Shame they can be so hard to find.

[@todd-makes-videos]

Well, that settles that. Within 2 minutes.

[@kar3n35]

I love 😻😻😻😻 anchovies🐟🐟🐟 and pizza🍕

[@hassanchowdhury245]

So they're salty coz they have salt added to them 🤯

[@MarkSmith-js2pu]

I love those things. I’m going to rinse them well and see how they do in an omelette with lots of fixin’s in it.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

Try marinated anchovies, not salty at all.

[@monanoorchaalida849]

No

[@Bminutes]

I like how they say “ANchuvvee”

[@raphaelfoo6610]

Have some respect and wear shoes to your interviews 😂😂

[@natewaters344]

Still not sure why/how he was let into a processing plant in open toed sandals...

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

@@natewaters344 Easier to wash bare feet.

[@seanrodey4179]

@@natewaters344 would just ruin the shoes and everything that hits the floor in this type of factory is waste.

[@wallacegentry4085]

white's obsession with sandals FTL

[@EasyBudgeting]

We sun dry these for monsoons 😊

[@stevendavies3563]

How pretty is she 😍

[@АлександрБелов-е7л]

Who knows what's the temperature in the room during the curing process?

[@arnoldcaines9012]

Could it be they cured in salt?

[@maskedphantom5554]

I don't mind the salty taste of Anchovies

[@KanersWorld]

Ate anchovies in a can soaked in a salt brine. Wouldn't feed it to prisoners. Sardines are way better

[@MrMarko4]

I think I’ll skip through this... 0:41.... ok I’ll give it a bit longer 😋

[@candydiggs6646]

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😋🥂

[@han3wmanwukong125]

For every human on earth who refuses to eat anchovies, I get to eat more :D

[@dexboi6957]

Lemon better than salt

[@danielpalma1426]

Anchovies are just sardines by any other name! 😁🐟

[@Spidaface666]

Remember back in the days Pizza Hut had anchovies and you can put anchovies on your pizza 🍕

[@Katherine_xs]

Tried to make fried anchovies and OMG it was so salty I felt like I was eating spoons of salt, they were not canned but they were smoked

[@Jingaling1]

BenDeen brought me here

[@gamozzie]

“The ocean is 98% salt...”???

[@Redbird1504]

Was wondering if i was the only one who heard that. If it was 98% salt you could drive tanks across the ocean.

[@gamozzie]

@@Redbird1504 I mean, I’ve heard of super-saturated solutions but 98% is just...

[@Redbird1504]

@@gamozzie 98% is basically solid ground lol

[@gamozzie]

@@Redbird1504 but it’s “chemical-free” so I guess it’s safe!

[@davecomfort283]

The fact that no one else seems to have heard the person on the helpline say this is very strange.

[@cuccicucci4480]

Eating from a barrel of fish without gloves. His spittle is everywhere, salty tho 😂🤣

[@libishm4622]

Is it raw food?

[@thefreese1]

Well, you cannot make caesar salad dressing without anchovies.

[@JohnVKaravitis]

"tins" How quaint, the British!

[@JohnJones-cp4wh]

I would think that`s obvious, very short shelf life, needs to be from catch to belly in less than one day.

[@Adiscretefirm]

Seawater is about 3.5% salt, not 95%.

[@samkitty5894]

Why is water wet?

[@selfelected3832]

Great now I got a craving for pizza🍕

[@Idlepit2]

0:13 Did he say "we know sea water is 98% salt"? Lmfao I dunno who you guys phones with these questions but that guy is clueless I wouldn't phone him again

[@cdhui]

Hey we're filming in a fish processing plant today OK I'll wear my sandals

[@MrKrtek00]

wow, I haven't laugher so hard for a while

[@gravlaxbob355]

And why do they need to get kept, while canned, in the fridge?

[@douglas2632]

Salt cured. There are types of anchovies that are processed like sardines. Not salty

[@nemanume]

Just finished my 10 euro tin of this salty fish and it was salty as a ....

[@MF-cv2xr]

this guy wearing sandals boils my blood

[@jrock8089]

They contain more salt

[@kingjames4886]

probably because it's a salted fish product...

[@TooSkinnyKenny]

when are the guts pulled out?

[@dreckken]

With a pint of water!?

[@Trans_Demon_Hybrid]

If they cut back the salt by 98% anchovies in a can will still be very salty.

[@keefsmiff]

Angela spratt... thats too funny

[@wgm753159]

Do British people genuinely think anchovies are that salty from the start? If so, that will explain a lot.

[@carpii]

still doesn't explain why they need to be salted, to put in cans. Other oily fish like mackerel are just canned without needing to be salt cured

[@archiebald4717]

Because the mackerel are cooked first.

[@xtreme_survival7879]

carpii that's how the Romans preserved food and the same goes with other foods that the weree preserved with salt.

[@carpii]

@@archiebald4717 Yup, good point :D

[@benjaminwilkin2960]

So theyre raw?

[@georgesduroy410]

the salt 'cooks' the fish

[@benjaminwilkin2960]

@@georgesduroy410 hmmmmmmmmmmm

[@nikosvithoulkas180]

Uncooked . Its a type of fermentation. In greece we make brined anchovies at home and its a very easy process

[@nikosvithoulkas180]

@Mααrʈεn M You can find both terms in literature. I am not a scientist to say which one is correct but this about food and i suppose curing is the initial stage and fermentation is when the enzymes act on the fish. Both are correct terms IMHO

[@wifilord]

That looks like how you make Garum

[@pinkipromise]

he ate it raw?!?!

[@Wawawiwa7]

Soaking em in milk takes some of the saltines away.

[@o0Avalon0o]

But why do anchovies need to be done in this older canning method when most other canned foods use newer low-salt methods?

[@gregkosinski2303]

Wow so sanitary

[@africanhistory]

Not why they so salty I want to know why so expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!! (currently in South Africa)

[@phanya7]

Is the workers must stay 😢?

[@Pro88teC]

With naked feet in a food facility. Only in france.

[@caolanpolgar9190]

Anchovies just have a high sodium diet 👀

[@mamdhata1614]

He didnt wear gloves

[@peacelove7872]

Because they drink too much...😁

[@edsan9788]

Ok one more good upload and you have a subscriber and im rather stingy with subscribing

[@wiiretime3704]

Why does the person on the phone never have an answer and why do you keep calling if they never have.

[@PeaceMastah]

Sea water is not 90% salt…

[@agnel47]

Wait..I've seen this show on TV.

[@cuccicucci4480]

Funny they just add salt before even washing these. Pluck heads, yank guts and go😁

[@Haz1Art]

Cuz theres no need. Salt does the job for you. And its huge waste of labour.

[@valvenator]

They already come pre-washed :)

[@cuccicucci4480]

@@Haz1Art I was thinking about the red and grey brain and guts bits they threw in with it.

[@ritparent7239]

at 0:49 when the the processing line is" hard at work gutting" them, are the anchovies already cooked? Or are they still live? Or are they dead but raw and uncooked???

[@SamiMalik-o6z]

Better keep my cat away from anchovies 😢aint there no way to extract the salt from em?😊

[@MistarZtv]

those are anchovies? they're huge

[@surfmonster2323]

Pretty disrespectful showing up to a factory, let alone a food factory, in flip flops..

[@reddurt8153]

Bacon-fish !