Blast from the Past: 30 Year Old Mendolia Anchovies
Jim Mendolia, from Mendolia Seafoods, said that the anchovies featured in the photo are approximately 30 years old. They were found in the sardine boat, Diana Avril, that used to fish out of Geraldton.
An old engineer who bought the boat down to the Fremantle Fishing Boat harbour gave them to Jim to keep and have been stored as his new factory in O’Connor ever since. He was told that the old skipper who passed away was a great fan of the family made and locally produced anchovies.
WAFIC Instagram follower “Barloulexie“ confirmed the above statement, commenting on the photo saying that she knew the captain well.
“He was a lovely old Norwegian Salty Sea dog who loved Rollmops and any kind of seafood.”
“It doesn’t surprise me to have found the anchovies tucked away. Bless him, his staple diet was coffee and cigarettes, he passed away in 2013.”
“I have some history with that vessel and it’s sister boat “Lella”. Past life, nice memories,” she said.
It was in 1988 when Jim and his family established the “Bella del Tindari” and “Auschovies” brand of anchovy/ sardine fillets and built the first processing plant.
So over 3 decades old, the question is – who remembers this brand of local sardines and who would be game enough to try 30 years later..?