Tinned Fish

Tinned fish is fish or shellfish sealed in a can, and most of it is heated in the sealed tin until nothing inside can spoil, so it keeps on a shelf for years. Cured anchovies are an exception: they are salted for months, never heated, and kept in the refrigerator.

How to choose Tinned Fish

  • Oil, brine or sauce. Keep the packing oil: cooks use it in pasta sauces and vinaigrettes or as a dip for bread. Brine, which is salted water, adds only salt, while a sauce such as tomato or escabeche seasons the fish for you.
  • The word sardines. In the European Union a tin sold simply as sardines must hold one species, Sardina pilchardus. Another 20 species, including sprats and herring, can be sold in the EU as sardines only with the species' scientific name joined to the word, so read the species line.
  • Smoked or not. Some canneries smoke the fish before packing, others steam it first. Smoke is there for flavor, not safety, since the heated, sealed tin does the preserving.
  • Skin and bones. Most tinned salmon keeps both, and canning softens them enough to mash into the fish. Skinless and boneless packs exist for anyone who would rather not.

About Tinned Fish

Most tinned fish is seafood packed into a can, sealed airtight and then heated. At the cannery, sardines have their heads removed and are usually precooked, often in steam, before going into the can with oil, water or a sauce such as tomato.

The method traces back to Nicolas Appert, a candymaker often called the father of canning, who collected a French army prize for his preserving process in 1810. Seafood is a low-acid food, so it has to be heated to roughly 240 to 250°F, a temperature only pressurized cookers called retorts can reach. Acidic foods such as fruit can be processed in plain boiling water.

Store unopened heat-processed tins somewhere cool and dry, below 85°F and away from the stove, and keep cured anchovies in the refrigerator. Serve the fish on buttered toast or crisp bread, or toss it through spaghetti with lemon.

At a glance

Also called
Conservas, Spanish for preserved
Common packing
Olive or other oil, water, brine, tomato, escabeche
Made in
Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Norway, United States and more
Serve with
Toast, crusty bread, crackers, pasta

Tinned Fish questions

Is tinned fish already cooked?

Most of it is. After the tin is sealed, it is heated long and hot enough to cook the fish through and leave the contents commercially sterile, meaning nothing inside can grow and spoil the food. That is why you can eat it cold. Cured anchovies are different: Cantabrian anchovies, for one, are cured in salt for at least six months, never heated, and must stay in the refrigerator.

What does escabeche mean on a tin of fish?

Escabeche is a marinade, a seasoned liquid of fried oil with wine or vinegar plus bay leaves, used to flavor fish and help keep it from spoiling. The word came into Spanish from the Arabic once spoken in Spain. On a tin, it means the fish sits in that sharp, vinegary sauce instead of plain oil, so it tastes brighter and tangier.

How long does tinned fish keep, and what about after opening?

The USDA puts unopened low-acid canned food, which covers heat-processed tinned fish, at two to five years. Once opened, it lasts three to four days in the refrigerator. Moving leftovers into a glass or plastic container keeps the taste better than leaving them in the open can. Throw out any tin that is swollen, leaking or deeply dented on a seam.

Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service; National Center for Home Food Preservation; Codex Alimentarius standard for canned sardines.

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