Matjes Herring 🐟

The word ‘Matjes’ comes from the Dutch term ‘Maagdenharing’, which loosely translates as ‘virgin herring’. Matjes is a gutted, lightly salted, enzymatically matured herring with no noticeable trace of milk or roe. Not every herring can become a Matjes, it must be ‘virgin’, which means it must not have produced any sexual products (milk and roe), because only then does it have the famous, high fat content. Also, a herring becomes ‘virgin’ again every year, so Matjes is not the same as a young fish.

Fish with a high fat content is sensitive, therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the fish is not subjected to too much pressure and is handled carefully during processing. This is why the Matjes is caught using different fishing vessels - the range extends from a length of 40 metres to larger vessels over 100 metres long.

The Matjes is processed immediately after being caught. The body's own enzymes give it an incomparable tenderness.

The fishermen pickle the Matjes and let it mature in a brine for five days. Although the gutting is now done by machine, it is often still done by hand - as is the case with the quality of Matjes, many things involve manual work. The Matjes are gutted, mixed with salt in barrels, layered and then matured, often during transport from the Danish or Norwegian fishing areas, until it arrives in Holland and is processed there. The Herring arrives to us frozen, to retain its freshness.

The Dutch version has a noticeably lower salt content in the brine than the German version which makes it milder in taste and significantly more tender.

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