1. How to make the BEST tinned tuna: We kicked off the trip in Galicia visiting our tuna cannery partners. We walked through the tuna cannery and got to watch the women hand-clean and hand-pack our Albacore Tuna. It never ceases to amaze me just how manual and intricate the process is of cleaning each and every tuna loin with a tiny little knife. I wish you could all see it in person, but I hope this picture give you a sense of the process.
2. Where the mussels grow: On this trip, our cannery partner (who packs our mussels and sardines) took us on a mussel boat to visit the “batallas” where mussels are raised in the famous Rías Baixas (beautiful estuaries off the Galician coast). While our mussels are raised in Chile, it was incredible to explore a farm that upholds the same sustainability standards.
3. 5 hour lunches! One of the absolute best parts of this trip every year are the five hour lunches we take with our cannery partners. They take us to their favorite restaurants and order all of the best regional dishes — it is HEAVEN!!! Here’s a picture of us with our sardine + mussel cannery partners — this lunch ended at 7pm!!
4. Tuna belly, baby!! We got to try one of the most incredible dishes I’ve tasted in Spain and in my entire life!!! Tuna ventresca or tuna belly, as some may know it, is the most tender, buttery part of the Albacore Tuna. It makes up about 6% of the tuna and is therefore extremely rare and difficult to find outside of Northern Spain. I’ve only ever had it from a tin, which is a MARVELOUS experience — yesterday we ate tuna belly straight from the grill with a simple salad of fresh tomato, lettuce, and onions. I’ll remember it for my whole life!!
Now, we are off to Denmark! Can't wait to share what fun we get into there...
Talk soon,
Becca
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