Typical products: Cetara Anchovies’ Colatura

In the small village of Cetara, a reddish sauce with an intense aroma called colatura di alici (Cetara anchovies’ colatura) has been produced for thousands of years.

Even today, it is one of the most typical products of the Amalfi Coast.

The anchovies that are fished from spring to July in the Cetara sea are put in salt for 24 hours, after having removed the head and entrails. Then they are moved into wooden barrels and placed in layers, between which there is abundant sea salt. At this point weights are placed on the barrels (usually large stones) to ensure that there is pressure on the anchovies, which are then left to ferment for about a year, a year and a half.

At the end of the process, with a tool called a “vriale” a hole is made at the base of the barrels to let out this reddish liquid, which comes out one drop at a time. Once all the liquid has been collected, it is filtered with linen cloths and poured into glass bottles together with the oregano that flavors it. Et voilà!

This amber gold resulting from the maceration of anchovies is a product that you will only find on the Amalfi Coast, and it is right to call it “gold” because you think that for just one liter of colatura you need at least 30 kg of anchovies, and also because the process is long and laborious.

Cetara Anchovies colatura has a very strong smell and flavor, in fact a little is enough to flavor the dish. The ideal is to eat it with spaghetti or linguine.