The world’s first preserved gourmet swordfish, gourmet frozen lobster and rice, stuffed sea urchin, and 60-day shelf life prawns and octopus are among the innovative products on show at today’s premier Seafood Barcelona.
Day One of Southern Europe’s newest seafood trade event was hailed a resounding success by exhibitors well-versed in the commercial realities of global exhibition presentations.
The Organization of Products from A Guarda, ORPAGU, tempted visitors with lightly salted, flaked swordfish loin and neck steeped in olive oil, served on crunchy toasted biscuits. This unique gourmet preparation — the first glass and tin canned preparations of this species — was given an affirmative thumbs up by many eager taste samplers.
“Consumers are familiar with eating fresh swordfish prepared at home or in restaurants,” explained ORPAGU’s Amparo Rodríguez. “Our new product comes in six varieties and is aimed at the delicatessen sector showing high quality, hand-made, traditional recipes favored by Galician fishermen’s families.”
Judging by the large numbers of taste samplers gathered at Maresmar’s stand, their frozen ready meal Rice with Lobster is also taking the gourmet sector by storm. Simply requiring boiling water it’s ready in four minutes. “Consumers love paella but are often unable to cook it to perfection. Our high level alternative to paella is ideal for celebrating special occasions,” explained director general Jordi Cubells i Agramunt, insisting my easily prepared taste sensation was washed down with a cold glass of Cava (Spanish ‘Champagne’).
The company’s Stuffed Sea Urchin also proved a head-turner with many unfamiliar with this high-end species. “Spanish are among the world’s best cooks,” Cubells continued. “We love the strong sea taste of sea urchin, what we call ‘yodo’ and it’s very popular in restaurants, even though it’s not cheap at EUR 1.70-2.00 (USD 2.20-2.60) per piece before distributors’ margin.”
Introducing its new range of long-life packaged prawns and octopus with no additives or change to original texture, Krustagroup’s “wild taste of the Mediterranean” is set to launch in time for the Christmas seafood season. Using cold pasteurization — a patented (highly secret) innovative packaging format — the new vacuum technology enables the products to retain their flavor without the need for cooking and are designed especially for time-poor families familiar with buying fresh fish from the fishmonger or supermarket.
“This product is part of the retail revolution,” explained general manager Pablo Múgica Narvaiza. “As a ready-to-eat preparation, which will be accompanied by a Cocktail Sauce, busy householders can instantly open, pour and eat. Blind taste focus groups scored them highly and at a competitive price of EUR 3 (USD 3.88) per 100 gram pack, this is fish for the future.”
