Baby eels food


What are Angulas (Spanish Baby Eels)?

One of the great things about money is that if you have a lot of it, you can spend it on really expensive things. Like Spanish baby eels, called angulas, which cost about $500 per pound.

What are Angulas?

Angulas are baby eels, known as elvers in English, and they're a pale, 3-inch-long, worm-shaped seafood that happens to be a Basque delicacy. 

Angulas are the offspring of the common Atlantic eel, which are born in the Sargasso Sea, in the part of the Atlantic Ocean that roughly corresponds with the Bermuda Triangle. 

The baby eels drift eastward on the ocean currents, winding up in the freshwater estuaries of Spain some three years later, where fishermen scoop them up. Those that survive to adulthood live for 10 years before returning to the Sargasso Sea (the return journey takes five months) to spawn and die, and the cycle starts over again.

But angulas weren't always Spain's most expensive food. As with so many luxury foods, angulas started out as peasant fare. The high price is only a result of demand and scarcity brought on by overfishing. Today, angulas are dangerously close to extinction. 

How Are They Used?

Angulas a la bilbaína is a traditional Basque recipe, named after Bilbao, the city in Northern Spain where it originated. And it's a simple preparation. 

First, olive oil is heated in an earthenware dish, along with sliced garlic and red guindilla chile, which is a skinny chile pepper with medium heat. Once the oil is sizzling, the angulas are added and stirred (traditionally with a wooden utensil, because metal is thought to taint the mild flavor of the angulas) briefly before removing them from the heat and serving right away, seasoned with salt and pepper and perhaps a splash of white wine. 

It's often served tapas-style, as part of a multicourse meal. It's sometimes served with spaghetti.

What Do Angulas Taste Like?

If you're wondering what Spain's most expensive food tastes like, the answer, oddly enough, is: not much. The flavor itself is somewhere between mild to nonexistent, while the texture is similar to that of cooked spaghetti, with a slight crunch to it.

It's perhaps paradoxical, then, that the traditional method of preparing angulas in a spicy oil is guaranteed to thoroughly overpower the flavor of the angulas themselves. Especially given how much you're paying for the privilege.

A tin containing 1.7 ounces (50 grams) of angulas sells for $50 in 2020, or about a dollar per gram. A random sampling of recipes for preparing angulas call for, respectively, 600 grams, 150 grams, and 320 grams of angulas, with a single portion weighing in at anywhere from 50 to 75 grams. 

Thus, at a dollar per gram, you're looking at a significant outlay of money to purchase this ingredient, and it may well put it far out of reach for all but the most devoted, or perhaps the achingly curious.

Gulas: Imitation Angulas

Because of the scarcity, and the cost, of genuine angulas, an imitation product called "gulas" was introduced in the 1980s, and it's become quite popular. They're made of surimi, which is the same pollock-based fish paste that is used to make imitation crab. 

And instead of forming the paste into long sticks, its shaped into tiny worm shapes the exact length and thickness of genuine angulas. The difference is only apparent on close inspection, as the imitation product lacks the eyes of the genuine article. In terms of price, surimi costs about $4 per kilo, as compared with $1,100 per kilo for genuine angulas.

But again, the fact that the mild tasting surimi is a convincing substitute for angulas is a testament to the fact that true angulas don't taste like much.

Where to Buy Angulas

Several internet retailers based in the United States carry 4-ounce jars of Spanish baby eels. They can be found online under brands like Conservas de Cambados, La Tienda, and Iberia. These real baby eels are from places like Galicia and are hand-prepared and packed in oil. Typically, the product is already seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper.  

If you're curious, but not enough to spend a small fortune, the imitation version might be more your speed. Gulas are available in jars or cans (4 oz/111 grams) for a fraction of the cost. Gulas can be enjoyed on sliced bread topped with mayonnaise and red peppers.

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Why baby eels are one of Spain’s most expensive foods

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Food & Hospitality | Food & Drink

(Image credit: David Doubilet/Getty Images)

By Mike Randolph24th March 2018

Angulas are astronomically expensive, up to 1,000 euros per kilo, which is strange because they don’t taste of much at all.

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Baby eels are one of Spain’s most expensive foods, but when you see them for the first time you might wonder why.

They’re not, to put it mildly, something that cries out to be eaten. When alive, they’re transparent and slimy, slithering and squirming like tiny snakes. Cooked, they turn opaque and resemble limp, dead worms, except they’re white with two tiny black dots for eyes. Hungry yet?

But lots of delicious things are not particularly good looking; what’s important is the taste. Here’s where it gets strange. It’s not that angulas, as they’re called in Spain, taste good or bad. They don’t taste of much at all – which is strange because they’re astronomically expensive, up to 1,000 euros a kilo. Even stranger still, legend has it they were once so unappreciated they were used as fodder for chickens and pigs. But then again, when it comes to eels, everything is strange.

Many Spaniards find it difficult to understand why some people are willing to pay so much for angulas, including me. As a writer and podcaster about Spanish food and culture, I’ve always found it mystifying. Especially because the traditional recipe (a la bilbaína) calls for frying garlic and hot peppers in lots of olive oil and then adding angulas – a sure way to overpower their mild flavour.

Baby eels, or angulas, are one of Spain’s most expensive foods (Credit: David Doubilet/Getty Images)

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Of course, mystery surrounds eels, not least when it comes to their life cycle, which sounds like something out of a dark fairy tale. They live in freshwater, but can breathe through their skin and travel over land for long distances. They eat just about anything, living or dead. Then at the age of 10 or so, they swim downstream in rivers across Europe to the Atlantic Ocean and somehow (it’s still unknown to science) they find their way to the Sargasso Sea, some 5,000km away. At depths of more than 500m – quite a feat for a creature that lives most of its life in shallow freshwater – they spawn and die, and their hatchlings drift on the Gulf Stream currents towards Europe, a journey that takes at least two years.

When the angulas finally arrive on Spain’s Atlantic shores, fisherman with scoop nets are waiting for them. The season starts in November, and the best time to catch them is in the middle of the coldest, blackest, rainiest nights when the tide is strong and the water is rough and turbid. Of course.

It takes at least two years for eel hatchlings to drift from the Sargasso Sea to Spain’s Atlantic coast (Credit: Siqui Sanchez/Getty Images)

While angulas are incredibly pricey, the first batch to go on auction every year are more expensive still. In 2016, the first lot up for sale weighed 1.25 kilos and sold for an eye-watering 5,500 euros. Wholesale. And yet the second lot, which weighed about the same, sold for a ‘mere’ 1,070 euros.

So why the difference? Same baby eels, bought minutes apart, just one batch before the other. Even more curious is that both lots were bought by the same man.

I tracked down the buyer, José Gonzalo Hevia, who owned Casa Tista restaurant in Asturias, to ask him.

“It was a bit of marketing for my restaurant and also an homage to the fisherman,” said Gonzalo Hevia, now retired. He was once an angula fisherman himself. “The atmosphere at the auction is very exciting. It’s a big media event. The next day, the name of my restaurant was in every newspaper and on every TV station.”

That kind of publicity can bring in a lot of customers. “Some of my clients came back 20 or 30 times a season to eat angulas,” Gonzalo Hevia added. When I asked him what’s so special about them, he said, “It’s the texture more than anything.

Legend has it that angulas were once so unappreciated that they were fed to chickens and pigs (Credit: Mike Randolph)

But the texture doesn’t seem so special to me. I remember them as slippery, with a very slight crunch. Still wondering why people would pay so much for them, I visited Arima, a noted Basque restaurant in Madrid, and spoke to the head chef, Rodrigo García Fonseca.

García Fonseca, who served 3kg of them in one week this past January, also a la bilbaína, said, “I wouldn’t pay that money for them. They have no taste, no colour, nothing, not even smell. A lettuce has more aroma. But I had two guys in here that ordered half a kilo of them. Five hundred euros in one shot. Some people who have money like to spend it. Who doesn’t like being a snob from time to time?”

Nagore Irazuegi, the owner of Arima, is also from the Basque Country, where angulas are ingrained in the traditional menus of Christmas Eve, New Years and the Day of San Sebastian on 20 January. “They’re way overpriced, but some people like the ostentation of it,” she said. But she is quick to add that there is more to it. “On special feast days, it’s just a tradition to eat them. And that ties a certain class of people together. It’s a cultural thing. More than anything, people want to belong.”

In 1991, Angulas Aguinaga created imitation angulas using surimi, a paste of processed fish (Credit: Mike Randolph)

Whether or not baby eels were once fed to livestock (everyone I spoke to had heard the same story, but little evidence exists), there’s no doubt they were once the food of the working class in northern Spain. But that was back when angulas were plentiful, and therefore cheap. As angulas became scarce and prices rose, a company called Angulas Aguinaga saw an opportunity. In 1991, using surimi, a paste of processed fish, they created imitation angulas, which are called simply gulas. They look almost the same, but that’s about it. Gulas are softer and taste vaguely fishy. And yet they’re so popular you can find them in just about any grocery shop in Spain.

Part of the reason angulas are so expensive is that dams and environmental degradation have taken a toll on eel numbers, and they are now listed as critically endangered. Overfishing has also played a part. In the past, live angulas were exported to China, where they were fattened and sold as mature eels, but that has been banned since 2010. Still, a lively black market persists. In 2017, Spanish police uncovered an international angula-trafficking operation that, when busted, had a stash of gold ingots, 1m euros in cash, plus 2m euros worth of live angulas headed for China.

Three-star Michelin chefs have also played a role in the price increase. Manolo González, an award-winning food writer and historian from San Sebastian and secretary of one of the city’s famed gastronomic clubs, Cofradía del Ajo y el Perejil (The Brotherhood of the Garlic and Parsley), explains. “When I was young, in the 1950s and 60s, we ate a lot of angulas. At that time, they were still considered too low class for a restaurant to serve, but in the ‘70s, the great Basque restaurants like Arzak started to cook with them, and all of a sudden, angulas were high class.”

Now they were not only scarce, they were also fashionable. It was a perfect storm of demand. Prices skyrocketed.

The traditional recipe for angulas a la bilbaína calls for tossing the eels with garlic and hot peppers fried in olive oil (Credit: Basque Country - Mark Baynes/Alamy)

And yet they remain popular. Why?

“Exclusivity has always played a role in gastronomy,” González explained. He likens it to buying wines that cost 5,000 euros a bottle, way beyond their true value, but worth it to some even if only to show status. While admitting that angulas don’t taste of much, González does enjoy the texture. “And for a food lover, on a special occasion, 80 euros for an appetizer isn’t completely out of reach.”

While he himself doesn’t cook with them anymore because of the high price, the taste of the classic angula recipe with oil, garlic and hot peppers still holds fond memories.

“You can make the same dish but with using spaghetti. We call it Poor Man’s Angulas,” he said with a touch of irony. “Try it, you’ll see how delicious it is!”

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Eel feeding in aquaculture

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Category: Breeding and rearing of fish
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Eel is one of the most valuable fish species due to its high palatability. The protein content in meat is 11-17%, fat - 22-32%. This fish has a wide range of nutrition and is very plastic to the conditions of detention. Raising eels in ponds is highly profitable under optimal conditions. In our country, eels are grown in cages and pools on cooling ponds.

The technological process of eel cultivation includes 2 stages: vitreous eel cultivation and commercial cultivation.

Planting material, the so-called glass eel, has a length of 6.5-70 cm and a weight of 0.25-0.48 g. 0.6-0.7 m. Feeding begins in April, when the water temperature reaches 15 ° C. Vitreous eel foods contain 52-54% protein and 18-20% fat. A high quality feed is essential to ensure good growth in the morning. Initially, oligochaetes or meat and molluscs are used, which is gradually replaced with chopped fish with the addition of 1% algal flour as a binder. After 20-30 days, the mass of vitreous eel doubles. Over the next 20-30 days, the fish are transferred to a special paste-like food, which includes 60-80% of the fish. Eels that have reached a mass of 20-30 g are placed in nursery ponds. They tolerate summer temperatures up to 30-32°C well; at temperatures below 15 ° C stop eating. At the optimum temperature (25–28 °C) and intensive feeding, eels reach a marketable weight of 200–250 g in 1 year. In flowing ponds, the yield reaches 40 t/ha.

With any eel rearing system, success depends on feeding. The eel is a typical predator, so feed should include mainly animal ingredients. The basis of the diet is compound feed (60-70%) and fresh fish. Compound feed for commercial cultivation should contain 48-50% protein and 21-23% fat, which provides metabolic energy at the level of 18-19 MJ/kg. According to the content of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, these feeds are not much different from those used in trout breeding. The main component in the diet of the eel is fishmeal, among other components, krill meal, soybean meal, vitazar, luten, starch and premix are used. Before distribution, the compound feed is kneaded to the consistency of a viscous dough, adding water and fat, and laid out on air feeders located on the surface of the water. When feeding with fresh fish, it is tied into bundles of 10-20 kg and lowered to feeding places. The eel very carefully eats the muscles of the fish, leaving only the skeleton. Feeding areas should be shaded. Feeding eels begin at a temperature of 12 ° C, juveniles are fed 2-3 times a day. In the 2nd year of life, the eel is fed once a day. The diet is 3-6% of body weight. For 1 kg of growth, the consumption of dry feed reaches 1.4-2.0 kg, forage fish - 6-8 kg. Eel can also be grown in ponds together with carp.

See also

Farming of fish - European river eel

FARMING OF OTHER FISH SPECIES - EEL

Raising of eel in industrial conditions

Eel diseases and their treatment in aquaculture 1 9001 9001 9001

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Feed composition for eels weighing up to 25 g, %

Cod caviar can be used as a starter feed, which initially promotes rapid growth. However, the duration of its use is limited to 30 days. With longer use of caviar, signs of malnutrition and increased susceptibility to microbacteriosis appear. Therefore, it is better to use caviar as a separate food only for about 15 days. Then a feed mixture containing a high percentage of caviar is fed. Gradually, within 30 days, the share of caviar is replaced by the spleen.

The need for feed in the production of eel is not yet fully satisfied. When using paste-like compound feeds for growing eels, their consumption reaches 10–15 kg per 1 kg of fish, when growing stocking eels - about 10 kg, and when feeding commercial fish with granular feed - 6 kg per 1 kg of fish. Under certain production conditions, feed consumption can be increased to 6–9 kg for pasty feed and 2–4 kg for granular feed (Table 25).

Table 25

Ingredients

Vitreous acne

Planting Eel

Starter

Food for

Production

feed

cultivation

feed

Feed yeast

10

10

0

Powdered milk

10

10

0

Fishmeal

20

20

0

Acne flour

15

15

43

Mixture of bioactive substances

1

1

1

Fish oil

9

9

6

Cod caviar

0

10

0

Spleen (pork)

5

15–25

10

Forage fish

0

10

40–50

Eel transportation. Many countries lack vitreous eel and import it from areas with large stocks (France and others). Catching, keeping and transportation of vitreous eel to fish farms and reservoirs are associated with many difficulties and negatively affect the quality of commercial eel in the future. Even the slightest skin damage that can cause the death of the fish should be avoided.

Usually transport is carried out in wooden boxes (85 × 50 × 40 cm) by road, rail and air. On a stack of eight frames covered with a nylon sieve (old

278

design), place about 2 kg of vitreous eel. Pieces of ice are placed in the ninth (upper) frame. With the slow melting of ice, the temperature during transportation inside the frames remains in the range of 4–10 ° C and the eel remains in a wet state. Melted ice is replaced with new ice. Boxes with vitreous eel protect from sunlight, drafts, drying and exposure to low air temperatures.

When transporting eels in boxes, it is recommended to spray or douse with water at the temperature at which they will be placed before planting. This contributes to the adaptation of the eel to a certain temperature and the cleaning of the gills from mucus or the removal of air bubbles. With long-term transportation and possible stops of transport, the waste increases sharply (for 9 hours - 7, for 16.5 hours - 16.7 and 34 hours - 48.8%).

The current practice is to use lightweight polystyrene boxes in various sizes (e.g. 68 x 24 x 9.5 cm). A small bag of ice is placed at the bottom of the boxes. 1.5–2 kg of vitreous eel are placed in boxes, then three boxes are tied together, placing them one above the other. In a similar way, for example, an eel imported from Europe to Japan is transported. Transportation of eel in European countries by air in comparison with other modes of transport gives better results.

Special transport containers are particularly advantageous for long eel transports. Water is supplied with oxygen through an air duct using a compressor. The addition of sea salt to the water is not recommended, since this does not increase the losses during transportation, but increases significantly during the adaptation period. When transported in water at very low air temperatures, which usually occurs when vitreous eel is obtained in January and February, there is a threat of hypothermia of the water, which increases waste. In the process of unloading, it is impossible to immediately release eels into fish tanks in frosty weather. Insufficient supply of oxygen to the vitreous eel can lead to significant damage and subsequent losses.

A healthy vitreous eel usually lies dormant at the bottom of a water-filled container in an arched shape with its head up, while an injured eel lies stretched out, often on its side, almost motionless. If he swims, then his movements are uncoordinated. Often at the same time he does not budge and weakens in convulsions. In contrast to the more or less immobile vitreous eels, damaged fish are often milky on the inside. All these signs can only be detected when the eels are in the water: they are less distinct outside the water. Injured acne usually has an increased recovery during the adaptation period.


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