Description
Colatura di alici is an Italian fish sauce made with anchovies, from the small fishing village of Cetara, in Campania. The sauce is a transparent, amber-colored liquid produced by the fermentation of anchovies in brine. The origins of anchovy sauce date back to ancient Rome, where a similar sauce known as garum was widely used as a condiment. The garum recipe was recovered from a group of medieval monks, who pickled anchovies in wooden barrels every August, letting the brine drip off the cracks in the barrels in the process. Eventually the process spread throughout the region and was perfected by using sheets of wool to filter the brine. A common way this fish sauce has been used is in a dish called spaghetti alla colatura di alici, which includes small amounts of fish sauce with spaghetti, garlic, and olive oil.