Sardines with Piment d'Espelette

Sardines with Piment d'Espelette from Conserverie Jean de Luz

Sardines with Piment d'Espelette from Conserverie Jean de Luz are large Basque sardines in extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with AOP Piment d'Espelette. This spice grows barely thirty kilometers from the cannery and warms rather than burns.

Sardines with Piment d'Espelette are a canned fish product from Conserverie Jean de Luz in the French Basque Country, packed by hand in olive oil. The AOP Piment d'Espelette provides a mild, fruity heat, which traditionally takes the place of black pepper in Basque cuisine.

Fruity, smoky, and with a lingering warmth

The heat of the Piment d'Espelette develops slowly, lingers, and spreads as a warmth without stinging.

Beneath it lies the sardine, firm to the bite and supported by salt, with the mild olive oil holding both sides together. Served cool from the refrigerator, the spice recedes; at room temperature, it reveals its fruity, almost smoky side. If you are not accustomed to it, you should therefore take the jars out of the cold a quarter of an hour before eating. The oil absorbs the seasoning over the months and is therefore worth every drop.

The red spice from the neighboring village

Only what has been grown in ten municipalities around the village of Espelette in the Basque Country may be called Piment d'Espelette.

AOP stands for the Protected Designation of Origin, with which France links products to a fixed origin and a fixed process. In autumn, the pods hang in thick bundles on house facades and dry in the air before being slowly ground. It is this drying process that brings out the fruity note for which the powder is known. Espelette is less than an hour's drive from the coast, and the distances between field and cannery are correspondingly short.

Caught "à la bolinche" off the coast

The sardines for this jar are caught "à la bolinche," using a small ring net close to the Basque coast.

Because the boats are out for only a short time, the catch quickly arrives on land and does not have to spend days on ice. Afterward, they are salted, dried, and packed by hand, with the spice added only at the very end. At Conserverie Jean de Luz, this order has always remained the same because it is the least taxing for the fish.

On rustic bread, in scrambled eggs, on the aperitif platter

A slice of toasted rustic bread, a sardine laid across it, a few drops of the spicy oil—that is all this supper needs.

Placed in soft scrambled eggs or rolled into a wrap with arugula and tomato, the heat finds a mild counterpart. On the aperitif platter next to olives and radishes, it is the item everyone reaches for first. Paired with a cool cider or a dry white wine, it becomes a small feast without any preparation. Those who prefer it milder can find the classic version in the Sardines in Olive Oil.

Keep refrigerated once opened

Leave the remaining fillets in the oil and store the jar upright in the refrigerator so they remain covered.

This way, the remainder will keep for about four weeks; unopened, it should be kept in a dark, cool pantry. Conserverie Jean de Luz packs the jars so that the fillets lie side by side and remain whole when removed. You can find the rest of the Conserverie Jean de Luz range in our shop, and more jars from the Atlantic are waiting in our canned fish section.

Content 270g – Drained weight 190g

Organic control body FR-BIO-010 – EU Agriculture