CANTABRIC OCTOPUS COOKED EN ITS JUICE (awarded as the best octopus in the world).

• Exhibitor: CONSERVAS EL VIEJO PESCADOR
• Brand name: EL VIEJO PESCADOR
• Sector: PASTEURIZADOS DE PESCADO

The octopus from El Viejo Pescador is a product that comes from Cantabrian rock, thus differentiating itself from those collected in other places and one of the greatest exponents of our catalog of gourmet preserves. One of the main characteristics of the Cantabrian octopus lies in its flavor, much more fibrous and with a darker color. At Conservas El Viejo Pescador we take artisan work very seriously, treating the product with care so that it reaches your table in perfect condition: the raw material arrives fresh from the boat to our facilities; we freeze it ourselves and constantly monitor it until we see that its state is optimal for cooking (about a month). The purpose of freezing it is to break its fibers, otherwise the octopus would be too hard to eat. Once clean, one of the most important moments arrives: cooking in its own juice. Craft work does not stop. Octopus legs are cut and weighed by hand. Finally, the food is vacuum packed. With everything prepared, at Conservas el Viejo Pescador we already have the product ready to be sold and placed on your table, preserving all its nutritional properties and flavor.

The story of El Viejo Pescador is the story of Carlos Díaz and Ángela Donato, a different story from the usual ones but, at the same time, very special. Carlos Díaz, from Oviedo by birth, after 12 years working in banking, with an exceptional and promising career, running a bank branch at just 25 years old and going through positions of high responsibility, both in Spain and Argentina, decides at the age of 33, give up this future and start a new journey by buying a small cannery in a seaside town in Asturias: Tapia de Casariego, a very important town for Ángela's family because it is linked to her previous generation at work. To carry this out, Ángela resigns from her position as a Pedagogue at a school and the adventure begins... It all starts at the end of 2017, with an exciting and exciting project: Converting a cannery with no activity into one of the leading canneries in the region. After some difficult and complicated beginnings, they begin to create new products that attract the attention of hoteliers and food stores in the area, as they all have one thing in common: Quality, proximity and the Cantabrian Sea, which they consider a pantry of enormous quality for the elaboration of products. In 2019, after several moments of "trial and error" they released the first product that will revolutionize the market: The Cantabrian Octopus cooked in its juice. By doing it at a controlled temperature, they manage to maintain all its properties from the moment it is caught until it is time to serve it on the plate, obtaining several awards for it, such as the three stars of the Great Taste Awards 2022, an award that had never been granted to an octopus in the 25 years of the history of these "Oscars of food". Later, in 2022, in collaboration with their friends from Picofino, they put out non-existent mussels on the market, being made with Picofino vermouth and inserting a slice of orange inside the can, appearing on national television programs for its innovative presentation. And this continues with upcoming news that we will be commenting on, because as a friend of ours says... Not everything was invented.