Grilled Catch Sprats Riga Smoked (12 Pack) 5.6 oz Tins in Vegetable Oil Product of Latvia, Kosher

I've loved sardines ("sprats" if you prefer) all my life. My father introduced them to me when I was very young; I've never lost my taste for them. Over the years, I've tried scores of sardine brands from all parts of the world: Portuguese from the waters of the Atlantic, Norwegian from the cold waters of the North Sea, American from the Pacific and packed in California...many of them excellent, some barely edible. Riga Smoked Sprats are--hands down--the very best I've ever had. Brisling sardines harvested from the Baltic and packed in Latvia, Riga's sardines are simply and absolutely wonderful. The flesh is moderately firm (texture second to none), sweet, and lightly smoked to perfection. I discovered them a few weeks ago at a market near my home but was reluctant to buy them for two reasons: first and foremost, they are packed in vegetable oil (I've always preferred sardines packed in olive oil with no other added seasonings or ingredients); and, second, they are very reasonably priced although they contained about 1.5 ounces more then the typical brand (how good could they be at that price?...more for less?). I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm told Riga packs their sardines in refined soy oil which has a neutral flavor profile and, therefore, allows just the flavor of the sardine to come through. And what a flavor! I'm all in for Riga! If you are a fan of high quality sardines packed in olive oil (not tomato sauce, not garlic, not lemon, and certainly not water), then you owe it to yourself to try these wonderful fish from Riga. On another matter: Given all the rigamarole regarding what is and what is not good for us (coffee wasn't, now it is; reach for the margarine, not the butter, and now margarine is more or less considered a poison...and so on), it's reassuring to know that sardines are really, really good for us. UPDATE: I still love this brand of sardine and still feel they are the very best I've ever had. The problem is that they are very hard to find here on Amazon and even more difficult to get the various sellers to disclose the type of "Riga" sardines they are offering as they simply don't know the product. I ordered them a second time from a different seller and received "Riga" sardines, but they were not the tiny Riga brislings I was looking for. They were good but not the same. So here's the deal: you want Riga "Gold" tiny brislings. Good luck finding them and better luck finding a vendor who knows the product and can advise you accordingly. I've struck out several times over the last few months. If there is a Riga Gold lover out there who knows what I'm talking about and knows where I can get a fix, let me know...we'll work something out. And another thing: Make certain you have a good, old fashioned, manual can opener. The Riga cans with the pull tab are impossible to open.

First off, I purchased the ones on page (with the plain yellow lid, but received the riga gold with white lid (which I believe are the original riga gold) Second is, I bought 4 different kinds but the 4th is not here yet. I love all of the riga sardines. The riga gold with the white lid are probably a little more salty than the other two, Trying to open them was another story, I'm 200lb man and it took me 3-4 minutes to open with a manual can opener! Forget the pull ring I tried and tried but I thought I was going to slice my hand open trying any more or at least break the ring pull off of the can. If you get these for grandma, you better get her a heavy duty electric can opener! The other can opened with effort but did work with pull tab same thing though. The last 2inches of the can lid was hard to finish and you worry about slicing a finger.( I don't know why the cans from riga are so thick compared to everything I have ever opened in a can) Jar was no problem easy open. Ok texture was great on all three, I did like that the polar brand had most of the tails cut off as well. The Polar brand (which I love) in the glass jar seemed half as smokey as the same in the can. Sometimes the can ones seem almost too smokey, but still very good. The Riga were both very good and very similar in taste and texture which is great. The white lid was the saltiest of the three. The Riga gold (white lid) looked a little darker in color. The Polar were the smallest of the bunch. Truthfully I can't decide which is the best they are all that good. You can't go wrong with any of these IMO.

Love it!!! Best taste, quality and price! The texture is perfect, every fish is of the same size and firmness, not too oily, the cans are easy to open too.

Before moving to a new location, I had a good source for these sprats and ate them frequently. They are very tasty. I am glad to find them on Amazon, although they are a little more expensive than I previously paid. Why sprats? If you want to eat fish, these are about the healthiest you can find. They are at the absolute bottom of the food chain, and only eat plankton. This means that you don't need to worry much about mercury and heavy metals as you would with tuna, for example. They are not an endangered resource. Did I mention they are tasty? A big spoonful in a ramen bowl is just heaven. Try them over a baked potato. Spread them over a nice crisp piece of homemade toast. Lots of goodness and food value here.

Tast like most dead fish tast. Nice smoked flavor. Being smoked I think tails are a bit pokey for my liking.

LOVE THE PRODUCT

I ordered these out of curiosity because a game i play has these as a consumable. I also down to try anything and just want to say that this has been a wonderful treat! I was mind blown by how good this smokey taste is and i think ill buy more in the future. Definitely recommend this to anyone who like canned fish like sardines because this one definitely beats it.

Good quality,