Colatura di Alici - Italian Anchovy Sauce by Delfino Battista 100ml

This delicious and simple traditional Italian product from Cetara on the Amalfi Coast is little known outside of Southern Italy. It is made by the Delfino Battista family following an ancient Roman recipe (Colatura derives from Garum, the fish sauce used by the Romans) involving layering anchovies with salt in wooden barrels, placing a weight on top of them and waiting for the juice to filter down. The word Colatura comes from the Italian verb Colare which means to trickle. This process takes around three months and results in this exquisite anchovy essence.

Our colatura di alici di Cetara is an aromatic and fragrant amber liquid that is easy to digest, rich in vitamin A and enhances any dish. It can be seasoned with fresh herbs such as parsley, garlic, paprika and some lemon zest and added to extra virgin olive oil to create a wonderful sauce for spaghetti or linguine. Or just simply drizzle over bruschetta or grilled vegetables. A little goes a long, long way.

Our producer - Delfino Battista

Just after the war, Pasquale Battista opened a small food laboratory in Cetara, a fishing village on the Amalfi coast, where he worked with passion and pride up to the 1990s, mainly preserving anchovies. The traditional link between the seaside village of Cetara and preserving anchovies dates back to ancient times and is still going strong thanks to Pasquale's children who carry on the tradition of preserving anchovies using the same family recipe.

Cetara has always been an area of fishermen; it's not by chance that its name derives from the Latin cetaria, or tonnara, used to fish tuna, or from cetari, the vendors of large fish. It is known today over the world for its anchovies packed in salt and its Colatura di alici, which is the result of the fermentation of anchovies marinating in salt and water in earthenware pots.