Sprats Riga Smoked (12 Pack) Gold Star 5.6 Oz Tins in vegetable Oil Latvia

I've loved sardines ("sprats" if you prefer) all my life. My father introduced them to me when I was very young; I've never lost my taste for them. Over the years, I've tried scores of sardine brands from all parts of the world: Portuguese from the waters of the Atlantic, Norwegian from the cold waters of the North Sea, American from the Pacific and packed in California...many of them excellent, some barely edible. Riga Smoked Sprats are--hands down--the very best I've ever had. Brisling sardines harvested from the Baltic and packed in Latvia, Riga's sardines are simply and absolutely wonderful. The flesh is moderately firm (texture second to none), sweet, and lightly smoked to perfection. I discovered them a few weeks ago at a market near my home but was reluctant to buy them for two reasons: first and foremost, they are packed in vegetable oil (I've always preferred sardines packed in olive oil with no other added seasonings or ingredients); and, second, they are very reasonably priced although they contained about 1.5 ounces more then the typical brand (how good could they be at that price?...more for less?). I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm told Riga packs their sardines in refined soy oil which has a neutral flavor profile and, therefore, allows just the flavor of the sardine to come through. And what a flavor! I'm all in for Riga! If you are a fan of high quality sardines packed in olive oil (not tomato sauce, not garlic, not lemon, and certainly not water), then you owe it to yourself to try these wonderful fish from Riga. On another matter: Given all the rigamarole regarding what is and what is not good for us (coffee wasn't, now it is; reach for the margarine, not the butter, and now margarine is more or less considered a poison...and so on), it's reassuring to know that sardines are really, really good for us. UPDATE: I still love this brand of sardine and still feel they are the very best I've ever had. The problem is that they are very hard to find here on Amazon and even more difficult to get the various sellers to disclose the type of "Riga" sardines they are offering as they simply don't know the product. I ordered them a second time from a different seller and received "Riga" sardines, but they were not the tiny Riga brislings I was looking for. They were good but not the same. So here's the deal: you want Riga "Gold" tiny brislings. Good luck finding them and better luck finding a vendor who knows the product and can advise you accordingly. I've struck out several times over the last few months. If there is a Riga Gold lover out there who knows what I'm talking about and knows where I can get a fix, let me know...we'll work something out. And another thing: Make certain you have a good, old fashioned, manual can opener. The Riga cans with the pull tab are impossible to open.

Before moving to a new location, I had a good source for these sprats and ate them frequently. They are very tasty. I am glad to find them on Amazon, although they are a little more expensive than I previously paid. Why sprats? If you want to eat fish, these are about the healthiest you can find. They are at the absolute bottom of the food chain, and only eat plankton. This means that you don't need to worry much about mercury and heavy metals as you would with tuna, for example. They are not an endangered resource. Did I mention they are tasty? A big spoonful in a ramen bowl is just heaven. Try them over a baked potato. Spread them over a nice crisp piece of homemade toast. Lots of goodness and food value here.

Love it!!! Best taste, quality and price! The texture is perfect, every fish is of the same size and firmness, not too oily, the cans are easy to open too.

To my taste, these are OK. The vegetable oil is not something I would drink, and there is a fair bit of it, and they are a bit on the fishy side. They arrived with two cans with very minor dings, good job. My current favorite is chicken of the sea, wild caught sardines in water; these are not as fishy, the water is delicious, but they do tend to fall apart. Probably 2.5 times the liquid in the Sprats Riga.

I ordered these on a whim to send to my parents for a gift, and ended up ordering my own as well. They arrived quickly, but were loosely "packed" in a plastic bag, rattling around in the shipping box. Several cans were dented. One of them severely dented enough that I felt I needed to open it and use it right away before the seal failed. The rest of the dented cans don't appear to be badly enough damaged to matter. On the other hand, these are tasty! We toasted bread, spread mashed avocado, boiled egg crumbles, sprats and finely chopped green onion for a very tasty open faced sandwich. I'm going to love a reprise of this sandwich often! The fish are delicately smoky and super tender.