One Of Consumer Reports' Highest-Rated Tinned Seafoods Is A Spanish Delicacy

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While tinned fish products are longtime mainstays on supermarket shelves, today's versions are about way more than lunchbox sandwiches or camping standbys. With a parade of premium tins now competing for attention, Consumer Reports provided shoppers with a 2025 roundup of the top tinned seafood, including 12 options within the categories of smoked salmon, sardines in olive oil, anchovies, and mussels in escabeche. One brand of anchovies in particular stood out for its strong connection to Spain, where the miniature fish occupy a very different culinary space from the relatively inexpensive versions tossed onto pizza or dissolved into a sauce.

Consumer Reports named Fishwife Anchovies in Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil the best anchovies, honoring these bold little fish for their texture, oil, and loads of diverse flavors. The publication characterized the Cantabrian anchovies as rich and salty, with a powerful dose of umami. Yet that intensity apparently stops short of becoming overwhelming, as one tester found the flavor relatively mild and not excessively salty.

In Spain, high-quality, salt-cured "anchoas," particularly those from the Cantabrian coast and the canning town of Santoña, are now a highly valued Spanish delicacy and gourmet specialty food. But anchovies as a luxury product requires much more than simply hauling them in and canning en masse. Quite a bit of work goes into creating ones like the Fishwife product that won the hearts of Consumer Reports staffers, or the other Fishwife tinned seafood we tried and ranked previously. Producing these tinned achovies involves everything from sourcing locations to fishing methods, salt curing, and the type of oil that encases them. 

The Fishwife Anchovies in Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil come from a certified sustainable anchovy fishery in the Cantabrian Sea, where fishermen catch them using the purse seine fishing method, which surrounds schools of fish with a large net. After the catch, the anchovies head to a family-owned canning operation for specialty hand-packing. That process doesn't end with a quick-pack operation; the anchovies instead get salt-cured for up to a year before being tucked into those colorful Fishwife tins.

The ingredient list for the Fishwife anchovies is refreshingly short: anchovies, organic extra virgin olive oil, and salt. The 100% Spanish premium olive oil derives from Spanish olive farmers, and Fishwife sells the final anchovies product as three-packs of 1.73 oz, BPA-free tins. They're available online through various retailers, including Amazon.

As for what to do with these little lovelies, there's no need to get complicated. In Spain, they're often eaten simply on their own as an aperitif or tapa, paired with beer, white wine or sherry, or accompanied by something as uncomplicated as fruits and cheeses. Fishwife recommends stirring anchovies into pasta or adding them to a Caesar salad. The company's recipe collection also includes pan con tomate topped with anchovies, radish, butter, and anchovy toast, grilled cheese with anchovies, mozzarella, and pesto, and rosemary and anchovy butter for steak. For more seafood options without needing to visit the fishmonger, you can keep these five nutritious tinned fish on hand.