Salted white tuna from the Levantine coast

We love seafood products, and today we are going to tell you how the Bonito en Salazón, caught and processed in our Murcian coasts, is elaborated and consumed. Ready?

For the Mediterraneans of the Levant, salted tuna is part of our most ancestral gastronomy and also of our garden salads and our most singular appetizers. Its strong flavor and intense smell make it unique and unmistakable.

Today we are going to tell you what it is and how it is prepared salted tuna, also called “salted” or dried tuna, and we will give you some tips for its consumption.

What is Bonito in salted fish?

The Bonito for salting is raised and caught in the Mediterranean waters, and is processed directly in companies on our coasts, thus preserving the greatest freshness.

To make salted tuna, the tuna is gutted and opened from head to tail without removing the head, leaving it in the shape of a butterfly. For its elaboration, 3 processes are followed: salting, washing and drying, all of them are still elaborated as always, manually and piece by piece.

To salt the fish, it is placed open on wooden reeds and subjected to salting in a dry pile, where it will spend a few hours until it reaches the ideal point of salt. Afterwards, the fish is washed and finally a light drying process is applied to make it ready for marketing.

In the past, drying was carried out in the sun, and it was common to see the areas of the fish markets with the bonito hanging. Nowadays, in order to keep food safety under control, it is done in artisanal drying sheds that reproduce these same conditions, obtaining a product at an optimum point of consumption, neither too dry nor too tender.

With this artisanal process, the salted tuna gets to enhance its characteristic sea flavor, and maintains all its meatiness.

How the Bonito in salted fish is consumed

In traditional points of sale, such as Casa Ballester’ s store in the Veronicas Market, you can find Veronicas Marketthe tuna are displayed hung and open. The customer chooses the piece he likes the most, and the shopkeeper cleans and prepares the bonito in the form of loins, ready for consumption at home.

In the following video, we show how a piece is prepared for sale, an art that is still maintained in neighborhood stores and markets in the Region of Murcia, and that we show live from our store:

Salted tuna can also be found packaged, in the form of loins or slices in supermarkets and supermarkets. It is advisable to check its origin and ingredients to avoid surprises.

For the preservation of the bonito salao, it is recommended to store it in a cool place (8-10º), in a gummed paper for food use or in a covered container. If it is vacuum-packed, it is preferable to remove the original package and wrap it in aluminum foil or food paper. The salted tuna lasts quite a long time in the refrigerator, and we will have enough time to consume it as we wish up to 1 month from its purchase, if it is well sealed.

If it is too tender for our taste, we can leave it for a couple of days at room temperature, in an airy place and uncovered, to dry or cure a little more, and then store it in the refrigerator.

As for its consumption, a trick before touching it: take a piece of kitchen paper or put on a rubber glove to protect your hand when slicing the loin. I assure you that you will be grateful not to have that strong smell on your fingers for the rest of the day.

The salted bonito is consumed as any other salted product, cold, and in the Region of Murcia it is usual to serve it as the star ingredient of a tomato salad. But there are many recipes in which we can add this tasty product, both as a starter and as an appetizer. Here are some traditional Murcian recipes, and some more innovative ones.