Apart from smoking fish, Blue Ocean Seafood has also specialised in producing young herring or traditionally known in Belgium as “maatjes”. Young herring is a traditional Benelux product and a true delicacy combining both quality and taste in a beautiful product with a tender bite to its meat.
Biology (Clupea harengus)
A "maatje" is a young herring that hasn't reproduced yet, it has a minimal fat percentage of 16%. Young herring is only catchable from the end of May until the end of August. This is why people speak of "the maatjes season”.
We pickle and freeze our “maatjes” so that they may be consumed the whole year through. Microbiologically they have to be frozen for a period of 24 hours at a temperature of -20C°.
Maatjes-happening
Together with our partners we organise an annual ‘maatjes-happening’. Dates and additional information get released a few weeks before the start of the new season.
