Colatura is a little-known chef's secret, a natural flavor enhancer. This genuine anchovy juice, produced in the town of Cetara in Campania, below Naples, benefits from a quality label in Italy as a traditional food product. Colatura can be compared to Roman garum or Vietnamese Nuoc nam.

Colatura has an amber color. It is obtained by first mixing freshly caught anchovies with salt and compressing them in wooden barrels to collect a liquid resulting from the fish's maturation. This liquid is stored for a few months in large glass containers.

It partially evaporates and concentrates in flavor. It is then mixed again with fresh anchovies in the barrels (slowly poured between the layers of fish, hence the word "colatura") to extract the best of the fish.

Colatura is a condiment that effectively replaces salt in some preparations. One should not be influenced by its very strong smell. In reality, it is a wonderful flavor enhancer, especially with vegetables such as green beans, broccoli, green cabbage, or with caramelized onions in a pissaladière. But its most renowned and traditional use in Italy is with spaghetti or linguine.

The product includes a dropper that allows for precise dosing of Colatura for your recipe.

Recipe: Linguine Benedetto Cavalieri with Colatura di Cetara (for 4 people)

Ingredients: 400g of linguine, 2 tablespoons of colatura, 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 chili pepper, olive oil, chopped parsley.

Cook the pasta for the time indicated on the package, then drain.

In a pan, fry chopped garlic and chili pepper in olive oil for a few minutes over low heat without caramelizing the garlic. Add the colatura, then turn off the heat after 40 seconds. Add the pasta. Then, turn the heat back on and toss with parsley and breadcrumbs for 30 seconds.