About the cannery
Artisanal cannery Herpac is a family business, founded in 1986 by brothers Francisco and Diego Pacheco. Herpac is a portmanteau word, a blend of hermanos (brothers) and Pacheco. It began life as a small shop in the Andalusian fishing town of Barbate, specialising in mojama, tuna that is salted and air-dried in the sun. Today it employs 120 people, the vast majority of whom live in Barbate, and is lead by the third generation of the Pacheco family. It continues its mission to introduce the richness of the Barbate sea to tables outside Spain.
About the almadraba Bluefin: the tuna is caught using almadraba traps, a three-thousand year old technique that relies solely on a maze of fixed nets, anchors, ropes and boats. The bluefin tuna is harvested sustainably: around 1% of the tuna that passes through the Strait is caught, and smaller tuna, which have yet to reproduce, are able to swim through the holes in the nets. The almadraba traps are set up from April to June, the time when the tuna pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Towns along this stretch of the Costa de la Luz, including Barbate, hold festivals in May to celebrate the arrival of the tuna and this ancient tradition.
About the cuts: the most prized cut of the tuna is the ventresca or tuna belly. It is from the fattier underside of the tuna. It has the most concentrated fat content of the tuna cuts. The tarantelo is located close to the ventresca on the fattier underside of the tuna, and has a similarly soft texture as the belly. Tarantelo has a less concentrated fat content than ventresca, but is fattier than the loin. The solomillo - sirloin or tenderloin - is a very lean cut from the tuna's upper loin. The loin. Ventresca is the fattiest part of the tuna, tarantelo is at the midpoint, and the loin is the leanest. The loin comes from two parts of the tuna: the outer section of the tuna's upper loin, the platoor plate, which stretches from the neck to the tail. And the less fatty parts of the under loin.
Serving tips
•Enrich a tomato, garlic and onion pasta sauce by adding the meaty bluefin tuna loin.
•With tarantelo there is plenty of flavour so you can enjoy it just on buttered toast, or you could make a herby, tomato-based sauce and mix in the tarantelo and serve over pasta or rice.
•Ventresca salad. Top a potato salad (boiled new potatoes, gherkins and mayonnaise) with slices of red onion and the meaty flakes of ventresca. Garnish with a handful of roughly chopped pistachios.
