Alalunga

Two brothers in Santander, on Spain's Cantabrian coast, run Alalunga, packing Cantabrian Sea fish into individually numbered tins.

About Alalunga

Based in
Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Known for
hand-packed, numbered tins of Cantabrian Sea fish

Álvaro and Pablo Huidobro run Artesanos Alalunga, a family canning project in Santander. The fish comes from the Cantabrian Sea, is caught with sustainable fishing methods and is tinned in limited production.

The brothers cook the fish at low temperature, and each tin is hand-crafted and carries its own number.

Its tins hold fish in olive oil and in sauces. Warm sauced fish gently in its own sauce, and serve fish packed in olive oil at room temperature with bread for the oil.

Alalunga questions

Where does the name Alalunga come from?

The name comes from the scientific name of the albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga, known in northern Spain as bonito del Norte. Albacore is a smaller tuna with pale, mild meat, and it is one of the Cantabrian fish the Huidobro brothers put in tins.

How does Alalunga catch and prepare its fish?

Alalunga uses only wild fish from the Cantabrian Sea, the stretch of ocean along Spain's north coast. Bonito and hake are caught by hook and line, and cuttlefish with traps and trammel nets, each in its own season. Sauces are cooked in clay pots with vegetables from the Cantabrian town of Ajo, the salt comes from the Añana salt springs in Álava, and the olive oil from Navarre.

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