Guide
A guide to Portuguese sardines
What makes a Portuguese tin different from every other sardine on the shelf — the fish, the season, the hand-packing.
Portuguese sardines are caught in the Atlantic between spring and autumn, when the fish carry enough fat to survive canning without drying out. Timing is everything: a sardine landed in July tastes nothing like one landed in March.
The best houses still clean, trim and lay the fish into the tin by hand. That is why fillets arrive intact, aligned and unbroken, and why a hand-packed tin costs more than an industrial one.
After sealing, tins rest. Some houses hold stock for months before shipping, letting the olive oil and fish settle into each other. What you buy is already a finished product, not a raw ingredient.