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Bernice Chan

Colatura di alici – a prized fish sauce made from anchovies – has been described as edible liquid gold. Adding a few drops of it is like giving an extra umami bump to all kinds of dishes – from a simple plate of spaghetti to Caesar salad, fish, meat and even pizzas. While this amber liquid is not that easy to find, and often comes with a hefty price tag to boot, it can do wonders for your dishes.

Italian food writer Cristina Rombolà explains that colatura di alici has been around for a long time, but has become globally popular only recently thanks to a combination of the Slow Food movement, Michelin-starred chefs using the artisanal product, and even appearances on culinary shows like MasterChef.
“Despite its longevity, for many years colatura di alici was overlooked because it was thought to be made from rotten anchovies,” she explains. “It has now become popular for several reasons, which I believe are attributable to the popularity of individual chefs that has led to wider coverage of food in the media, including its production.”

A small 50ml bottle of colatura, also nicknamed “Parmesan of the sea”, can cost 30 euros (HK$276). Delfino Battista, a family company started just after World War II, is now considered the premier brand, still using the same recipe introduced by founder Pasquale Battista.
Colatura comes from the Italian word colare, which means “drip” or “strain”. Rombolà says that traditionally it came from Campania, in southwestern Italy, and particularly from Cetara, a small fishing village on the Amalfi Coast.
The village overlooks the Gulf of Salerno, where anchovies flourish. Caught in nets, the anchovies are then gutted and their heads removed. The fish are then submerged in saltwater for 12 hours before being cured with salt.

“This involves packing the anchovies tightly in alternating layers of Trapani coarse salt in small wooden casks covered with a wooden lid, on which a heavy stone is placed to press the fish,” Rombolà says.
The combination of pressure and salt causes the fish to dehydrate and slowly ferment, with the resulting liquid being colatura.
“After at least 18 months, the barrels are pierced at the bottom, and the amber liquid from the surface drips down, passing through all the layers of anchovies. The colatura is collected, drop by drop. This is why there’s a local saying that making colatura di alici requires the skill only a fisherman can possess and the patience only a woman can possess,” writes Rombolà.
Chef Paolo Monti of Ama Ristorante in Hong Kong describes how the liquid is filtered to remove any impurities and then bottled.
“The smell of colatura is a very strong fish sauce, like the Asian fish sauce, and very salty, so you have to be careful how much you use,” he warns. “You just need a few drops.”

Monti describes colatura as the modern version of garum, a fermented fish sauce made from the guts and bones of small fish like sardines and mackerel that dates back to ancient Rome, and was also used by the Greeks.
He says that colatura became more popular in the decade or so. “I believe the dripping [from anchovies] was previously a waste product because the main aim was to preserve the anchovies for a long time and to transport them to places like Piedmont, which uses a lot of anchovies.”
The chef, who hails from Rome, describes how a simple spaghetti dish for four people can be made with a few drops of colatura di alici. As this anchovy dripping is so salty, there is no need to salt the water when boiling the spaghetti.

While the pasta is cooking, chop some parsley, garlic and chilli, then add eight teaspoons of olive oil and four teaspoons of colatura, and mix together. When the spaghetti is cooked al dente, add to the sauce and serve.
Rombolà says colatura, which is a good source of vitamin A, can also be used to season boiled potatoes, for sautéed zucchini and even to make Cetarese-style pesto by grinding nuts like almonds, walnuts and pine nuts, together with black and green olives, garlic, parsley, basil, anchovies, colatura and extra virgin olive oil.


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Discover colatura di alici, Italy’s fish sauce adding zing to dishes worldwide

Anchovies are salted and cured to make the flavour-enhancing sauce colatura di alici. Photo: Handout


Made in Italy using traditional methods, colatura di alici has become popular around the world in recent years. Photo: Handout

Based in Cetara on the Amalfi Coast, Delfino Battista has been making colatura since 1950. Photo: Handout

Anchovies are cured in a barrel with Trapani coarse salt, with the lid weighed down by a heavy stone. Photo: Handout

Salted anchovies give colatura di alici its strong, tangy flavour. Photo: Handout

Spaghetti with Acqua Pazza colatura di alici. Photo: Handout

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Originally from the Amalfi Coast, colatura is made from anchovies that are cured in salt to produce a strong, distinctive flavour


Originally from the Amalfi Coast, colatura is made from anchovies that are cured in salt to produce a strong, distinctive flavour.


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Discover colatura di alici, Italy’s fish sauce adding zing to dishes worldwide

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Originally from the Amalfi Coast, colatura is made from anchovies that are cured in salt to produce a strong, distinctive flavour

Originally from the Amalfi Coast, colatura is made from anchovies that are cured in salt to produce a strong, distinctive flavour