Earlier this week we reported on how South Africans were left saddened after hearing that two iconic fish paste brands – Redro and Peck’s Anchovette – have been discontinued.
Mandy Murphy, the category manager of foods at PepsiCo SSA, said they made the decision to discontinue production of their Redro and Peck’s fish paste products towards the end of last year.
“This was part of our ongoing portfolio review. We made the decision to discontinue production of our Redro and Peck’s fish paste products towards the end of last year.
“We communicated this to our customers, stopped production, and discontinued the sale of related items in December 2021.
“Products will therefore remain available for purchase by consumers as long as the retailers have stock on hand.
“We are in the process of finalising the sale of the related assets or brands to a third party,” said Murphy.
In scrolling through social media to read what people had to say about the discontinuation of these products, most were not ready for this devastating news as they still loved the products. Many questioned “why?”, while others said they will miss them.
If you are one of those who love Peck’s Anchovette fish paste, the good news is that there’s a copycat recipe by blogger and recipe developer Celeste Wilson that you can always whip up at home.
Peck’s Anchovette healthy copycat recipe
Ingredients
2 x 100g tin of sardines in water
1 x 50g tin of anchovies in olive oil
Method
First, drain the water of the two sardines tins, and place the fish in the blender.
Now add the anchovies with oil to the blender.
Blend the ingredients together until smooth.
Substitution: Sardines come in different sauces such as mustard or hot sauce, so you can play around with the flavours of this recipe by substituting the sardines in water for sardines in hot sauce, for instance.
Once it is blended you want to keep the paste in a sealed container in the refrigerator. It should last a good week and a half.