Santo Amaro - Authentic European Sardines in Olive Oil & Red Piri Piri Pepper, Hand-Packed Canned Sardines in Spicy Olive Oil, Wild Caught Portuguese Sardines, Lightly Smoked, 20g Protein, Pack of 3

These are absolutely the best sardines I have ever eaten at this price point-$34.99 delivered for 12 cans, under $3.00 per can. My impression of these sardines is mild, firm, and fresh. They taste like the company cares about packaging a high quality product. The taste of the mild white flesh part of the sardine is the dominant flavor. I could not really taste the skin, bones, scales. The tomato sauce enhances the flavor-the tomato sauce is mild and does not cover up the taste of the sardines. I’d also say these sardines are less oily than some. I recommend these sardines for anyone wanting to try sardines, or that has had a bad experience with grocery store sardines. There is no fishy flavor at all in these sardines. Just a nice sardine flavor. I was a bit taken aback when the first can had a lot of scales. I ate them and the flavor was unaffected. The scales could be easily pushed aside. I tried a second can (pictured) and it had only a few scales. I appreciate that the cans are full of sardines-I am not paying for a lot of extra tomato sauce or olive oil. The cans are labeled 4.2 ounces. I think there is more than 4 ounces of fish in each can, with the minimum tomato sauce required to coat the fish. I have read that many different species of fish are labeled “sardine”. I appreciate that the species of fish is labeled on the box-see photos. I look forward to visiting Portugal again in 3 months and enjoying the world’s best sardines. I am also interested in whether my opinion of these remains the same after a week in Portugal. In summary, I recommend these sardines for someone wanting a mild, “pure” flavor. I recognize that some people may prefer a stronger, more fishy taste. Enjoy. Please post your reviews so I can read different opinions. Edit. Four cans in now. Two sardines in three of the cans. One can had three sardines. None have had as many scales as the first can. The scales float next to the large end of the sardine and could easily be flicked off. I don’t bother. Still happy with these.

Really good. Just the right amount of saltiness to go with saltine crackers.

Good quality and tasty

So, I got the 6 pack that has one of each variety. Let me do my best to recall each of the 4 I have tried.: Plain (sardines in natural spring water): I actually tried this first because I always like trying the plain version of anything first to get a baseline to get a pure, unadulterated idea of the quality and taste of the actual underlying product itself. It was just okay. Obviously good but nothing special. Honestly strongly prefer Wild Planet in Water w/ Sea Salt than this. By a lot. Next I tried the plain but in olive oil. This one, actually was pretty good. I might even say I prefer it over the Wild Planet kind I normally consume. Personal bias: I generally avoid anything in olive oil since I was young, this was my first time trying anything in olive oil so perhaps it's actually better than I've realized and just so happens to go really good with fish, particularly sardines, and I was simply ignorant of that my whole life. Not sure. Third: Plain with Tomato Sauce. Literally like the plain but with some cheap tomato paste. It wasn't bad just, again at $5 a can you kind of set your standards somewhat high, you know? Fourth: "in Olive Oil & Red Piri Piri Pepper". Eh. I enjoyed it. Something unique. Nothing I'd really write home about, though. No idea what "Red Piri Piri Pepper" is but if it was supposed to be elegantly flavorful or incredibly spicy, it was neither. At least, it didn't stand out in any notable way. Whether that's due to the Olive Oil, I don't know. (I have not tried the remaining 2: "in Olive Oil & Lemon, Lightly Smoked" or the "in Tomato Sauce & Red Piri Piri Pepper". But obviously the ones I have tried basically capture the essence of them so, I can't imagine I'm missing much.) Long story short, it's just under $5 a can. That's sobering. Much prefer Wild Planet Sardines in Water w/ Sea Salt (~$3/can). Excellent taste. The only variety I've tried that I'd say rivals Wild Planet would be the "plain in olive oil" (not with lemon and not with the pepper)... but hey, if you really like your fish or really like your sardines, maybe my palette is just unsophisticated and you'll really enjoy these. I don't know. Just my review. It's good stuff. You'll probably like it. Just again, if you're a normal person on a budget, unless you REALLY like your sardines... I'd probably focus on more important things. Or get Wild Planet instead. Literally the same price and you get twice the cans and product that IMO taste better. EDIT UPDATE: Tried the last two. "in Olive Oil & Lemon, Lightly Smoked": Yeah, this is the best of the six. If you're going to order one for the first time, this should probably be it. Doesn't seem too, too different than the simple "in Olive Oil" (no lemon, not lightly smoked) but whatever qualities that are present in this one are more positive than negative, at least to this reviewer's palate. "in Tomato Sauce & Red Piri Piri Pepper": See the "Plain in Tomato Sauce" review. Nothing too special. Neither is the pepper aspect but again, it's sardines, and sardines are hard to mess up. So obviously it tastes good. Overall conclusion: Go with the "in Olive Oil & Lemon, Lightly Smoked". Top pick/favorite. Worth the near $5. At the very least more so than the other five. But who knows. Maybe take the plunge with the 6 variety pack and prove me wrong!

Big beautiful sardines, great taste, not to fishy, great lemon zest/flavor, just enough salt, worth every cent, the only thing better vitamin and mineral wise is canned Icelandic cod liver.

Delivered yesterday. Opened my first can today. I am blown away. I eat sardines for the health benefits but I don’t love them (it’s between like and tolerate). This was a mild, not very fishy tasting fish with a hint of lemon. The pilchards are huge (almost 2x the size of the Nuri’s). These will definitely be reordered.

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A very nice variety pack of Portugal sardines. The two cans with peri-peri really bring out the flavor in these fish. The attractive packaging is world-class design, and I can see that this set of sardines won't last long in our house! A tad on the expensive side, but there is truly nothing better for lunch in the woods or for a picnic.