The anchovies of Santoña: from bocarte to salted fillet
A B1 Spanish reading about the anchovies of Santoña in Cantabria: why the same fish is called bocarte, boquerón or anchoa, how it cures in a salt barrel, and what the sobadoras do.
Una semana entre bocartes: lo que he aprendido en Santoña
Reading for practice
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The narrator spends a week in Santoña, a fishing town in Cantabria, and reports what they have learned. First a word: there the fresh fish is the bocarte, in Andalusia it is the boquerón, and «anchoa» names what comes out of the barrel cured in salt. In the 1880s Italian salters reached that coast looking for anchovies for their home market, and one of them, Giovanni Vella, settled there for good. The text describes the barrel layered with salt under a weight, the work of the sobadoras who clean every cured anchovy by hand, and the spring fishing season.
Lo primero que he aprendido es una palabra. Aquí el pescado fresco se llama bocarte, y la palabra «anchoa» se reserva para lo que sale del barril muchos meses después, ya curado en sal. En Andalucía y en buena parte de España, al mismo pez fresco lo llaman boquerón. Yo he comido boquerones toda la vida y no sabía que eran el mismo animal.
He visitado dos fábricas y en las dos me han contado la misma historia. En la década de 1880 llegaron a esta costa salazoneros italianos. Buscaban bocarte para el mercado de su país. Uno de ellos, Giovanni Vella, se quedó a vivir aquí, se casó con una mujer del pueblo y montó su propio negocio. Cuentan que la fábrica llevó el nombre de ella, Dolores.
He visto cómo se llena un barril. Al bocarte se le quita la cabeza y se le sacan las tripas; luego se coloca en capas con mucha sal, se pone un peso encima y se espera. No se espera una semana: se esperan meses. El martes abrieron delante de mí un barril de la costera pasada y el olor me llegó desde la puerta.
Lo que más me ha impresionado ha sido el trabajo de las sobadoras. Son mujeres que limpian cada anchoa a mano, una a una, con un paño: quitan la piel, sacan la espina y dejan los dos lomos enteros antes de ponerlos en aceite. He estado media hora mirando y no he conseguido seguir el ritmo de sus manos. Una de ellas empezó a los diecisiete años y ayer me lo contó riéndose.
También he preguntado por la temporada. La costera del bocarte es de primavera, y buena parte del año el pueblo trabaja con lo que se guardó en esos meses. Esta semana la conversación ha vuelto una y otra vez al mar y al tiempo, porque nadie sabe cuánto pescado habrá el año que viene.
He probado anchoas de tres fábricas distintas y he entendido por fin por qué unas cuestan mucho más que otras. Ninguna se parece a las de la lata que compro en mi barrio.
¿Y tú? ¿Has probado alguna vez una anchoa curada en sal? ¿Qué comida de tu país cambia de nombre según la región? ¿Cuándo comiste por última vez algo preparado a mano, y quién lo hizo?
About this article
What you'll learn
The contrast between the present perfect and the preterite according to the time marker, with vocabulary for fishing, salt curing and trades.
The narrator spends a week in Santoña, a fishing town in Cantabria, and reports what they have learned. First a word: there the fresh fish is the bocarte, in Andalusia it is the boquerón, and «anchoa» names what comes out of the barrel cured in salt. In the 1880s Italian salters reached that coast looking for anchovies for their home market, and one of them, Giovanni Vella, settled there for good. The text describes the barrel layered with salt under a weight, the work of the sobadoras who clean every cured anchovy by hand, and the spring fishing season.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
por fin
newat last, finally
It marks relief after a long wait or a long confusion. Do not confuse it with «al fin y al cabo» (after all, when you think about it) or «en fin» (oh well, anyway): all three contain «fin» and mean different things.
One of the most frequent phrases in conversation, and the family resemblance is exactly what trips learners up.
una y otra vez
newagain and again
It marks repetition over and over. Here it sits with «volver a», which already means coming back to something: «la conversación ha vuelto una y otra vez al mar».
More vivid than a plain «muchas veces», and useful in storytelling and in essays.
por última vez
newfor the last time
The question «¿Cuándo... por última vez?» asks for one specific moment in the past and usually takes the preterite: «¿Cuándo comiste por última vez...?». Compare «alguna vez», which asks about experience in general.
A staple question in conversation and in exams, and it points you to the right tense.
Lo que más me ha impresionado
newthe thing that most...
The structure puts the key point in focus: «lo que más me ha impresionado», «lo que menos me gustó», «lo que más me sorprendió». It is normally followed by «es» or «ha sido» and then the thing itself.
A ready frame for answering any question about impressions, in speech and in writing.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
el bocarte
bocarte
the fresh anchovy, in Cantabria
One fish carries three names depending on place and state: «bocarte» is the fresh fish in northern Spain, «boquerón» is the same fresh fish in Andalusia and most of the country, and «anchoa» is what comes out of the salt barrel.
A rare case where the name tells you both the region and how the fish was treated.
el salazonero / la salazón
salazoneros
a salter / salt curing
«La salazón» is the method of preserving food in salt, and a «salazonero» is the person who does it for a living. Both come from «sal», like «salado» and «salar».
It shows a productive pattern: from the name of a material Spanish builds the process and the trade.
la sobadora
sobadoras
a woman who cleans cured anchovies by hand
The word comes from «sobar», to rub and work something with the hands. The suffix -dor / -dora builds job names: «trabajador», «cuidadora», «sobadora».
It names a trade that still exists in Santoña, and it teaches the -dora suffix at the same time.
la espina
la espina
fish bone; thorn
In a fish «la espina» is a bone, and «la espina dorsal» is the spine. In a plant the same word means a thorn, as on a rose. For the bones of animals and people Spanish uses «el hueso».
Telling «espina» from «hueso» matters at the table, at the doctor and in any fish recipe.
el lomo
lomos
back, loin; here: the anchovy fillet
The core meaning is an animal's back, and from it come the name of a cut of meat («lomo de cerdo») and of a fish fillet. The same word names the spine of a book.
One of those words you need in a menu, at the butcher and in a bookshop alike.
la costera
La costera
the fishing season for one species
On the north coast of Spain «la costera» is the stretch of the year when one species is fished: «la costera del bocarte», «la costera del bonito». Do not confuse it with the adjective «costero» (coastal).
A single word that holds the whole calendar of a fishing town.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
esta semana + present perfect
Esta semana he estado
this week I have been
In the Spanish of Spain, time markers that have not closed pull the compound perfect: «esta semana», «hoy», «este año», «este mes». The week is still running as the writer writes, so «he estado» rather than «estuve». The text does the same with «Esta semana la conversación ha vuelto una y otra vez al mar».
Looking at the time marker is usually enough to pick the right form.
el martes + preterite
El martes abrieron
on Tuesday they opened
When the moment is named and already closed, the Spanish of Spain takes the simple preterite: «el martes», «ayer», «en la década de 1880», «a los diecisiete años». That is why «he estado» (the week is running) and «abrieron» (Tuesday is over) sit side by side in the text.
The same paragraph shows both forms, and only the time marker separates them.
alguna vez: experience and region
Has probado alguna vez
have you ever tried?
«Alguna vez» asks about lifetime experience, not about a date. This text is written in the Spanish of Spain, where such a question normally takes the perfect: «¿Has probado alguna vez...?». The second half matters just as much: across much of Spanish America, and also in the Canary Islands and the northwest of Spain, the simple preterite is the natural choice: «¿Probaste alguna vez...?». Both are correct in their own variety.
This is a question of geography, not of correctness, and textbooks often show only one half of it.
toda la vida + present perfect
he comido boquerones toda la vida
I have eaten ... all my life
«Toda la vida», «siempre», «hasta ahora» and «últimamente» describe a stretch reaching this moment, so they take the perfect. Right beside it the same sentence has «no sabía» in the imperfect, because that is a background state rather than an event.
One sentence displays two different past forms and the reason for each choice.
se le quita / se le sacan
se le quita la cabeza
the head is removed, the guts are taken out
This is a «se» passive (pasiva refleja): no doer is named because it does not matter who it is. The verb agrees not with the fish but with what is being removed: «se le quita la cabeza» singular, «se le sacan las tripas» plural. The «le» points to the bocarte, the fish it is done to.
Nearly every Spanish recipe and instruction is written this way, and an agreement slip is very noticeable.
antes de + infinitive
antes de ponerlos
before putting them in
When the same subject performs both actions, «antes de» is followed by an infinitive with the pronoun attached to it: «antes de ponerlos». If the subject changes you need «antes de que» and a different verb form, and the sentence gets heavier at once.
The infinitive after «antes de», «después de», «para» and «sin» spares you a harder construction and sounds more natural.
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