NURI Sardine Gift – 4-pack box. The four classic sardine varieties from Matosinhos in a gift box.
The NURI Sardine Gift – 4-pack box contains four 125g tins in a box: sardines in olive oil, in spiced olive oil, in tomato sauce, and in spiced tomato sauce – whole Portuguese sardines, steamed and hand-packed, from the Pinhais cannery in Matosinhos. No sampler pack with mini tins, no extras: four full-sized tins, which are also available individually, in a box ready for gifting.
The Sardine Gift – 4-pack box from NURI is the answer to the question of what to give someone who already has wine, turns their nose up at chocolate, and loves to eat. Four tins in yellow-red paper that look just as good on the shelf as they do on the plate, in a box that makes a ribbon unnecessary. Before Christmas, this box is the NURI product we recommend most often – and it’s the go-to gift all year round for people who already have everything.
Four tins, two basic varieties, two levels of heat
The box covers the basic structure of the sardine range. The sardines in olive oil are the classic: whole sardines, olive oil, salt – three ingredients, and our best-selling NURI tin. The sardines in spiced olive oil contain piri-piri, cucumber, carrot, clove, and bay leaf in the tin and provide a warming sensation rather than a burning one.
The sardines in tomato sauce are the family tin: tomato paste, a little olive oil, salt – the variety that even those who find sardines in oil "too fishy" will enjoy. And the sardines in spiced tomato sauce combine both: tomato and piri-piri, for those who want both.
All four contain whole sardines, headless, with skin and soft bones. This box is not suitable for those who want boneless fillets – for that, there is the Mackerel & Sardine sampler pack with two tins of mackerel fillets. The extra spicy variety and the lemon sardine are not included in the box; they are only available individually.
An evening with all four tins – or four evenings with one each
The best way to use the box is for a sardine tasting: four tins open on the table, white bread, butter, lemon, red onion, a white wine or a Vinho Verde. Everyone tries them, from mild to spicy, and by the end, the table knows which variety to reorder. It’s a dinner for four where the stove stays cold, and it’s the reason why the box also works as a gift to bring to a dinner party.
Individually, the four tins are four evenings: the oil sardine on bread, the spicy one with fried potatoes, the tomato sardine as pasta sauce, the spicy tomato sardine on toast. All four should only be warmed, never cooked, and for all four, the oil or sauce should be served along with them.
For those keeping the box for themselves, it serves as a staple supply: four varieties in the cupboard for four unplanned evenings. The tins last for years and remain exactly as they are – the oil sardines continue to develop in the oil, and the tomato sardines remain unchanged. Opened tins should be stored in the refrigerator in a lidded jar and eaten the next day.
Our tip: Gift the box along with a loaf of good white bread and a lemon – then dinner is complete, and the recipient can set the table immediately.
Four tins from the same factory in Matosinhos
All four varieties come from Pinhais & C.ª in Matosinhos, the fishing port of Porto, 500 meters from the Atlantic. The factory has been operating using the same method since 1920: only fresh fish, placed in brine, put on racks by hand, steamed, and then placed individually by hand into the tin before olive oil or tomato sauce is poured in. For the spicy varieties, the chili, cucumber, carrot, bay leaf, and clove are added by hand.
Finally, every tin is wrapped by hand in the printed paper whose design dates back to the 1930s, when the name NURI was introduced. Four of these tins side-by-side in a box are the reason the gift also appeals to people who previously considered canned fish to be emergency rations: it looks more like a delicacy than a tin.
The tins reach Germany via the importer Maritime Zeitkapseln from Hanau. And because the four varieties are available individually as well, the recipient can restock their favorite variety afterward – they are all listed on our NURI page.
The gift for foodies, hosts, and sardine novices
The box is the gift for people who love to eat and already have everything: for the host instead of wine, for a colleague's farewell, for parents who love Portugal, or for Christmas for anyone who finds chocolate too predictable. It’s the kind of gift that gets opened on the table instead of disappearing into a cupboard.
And it’s the entry point for everyone just getting to know NURI: four varieties at once, each in a full-sized tin, in a gift box. Anyone who knows what they like after trying the box can reorder that variety individually – that’s how many of our NURI customers get started.
The box is not suitable for those who avoid fish or for anyone wanting boneless fillets – four tins of sardines are a gift for people who appreciate fish. And for those looking for a mix including mackerel, the sampler pack is the way to go.
Four tins of sardines from Matosinhos in a box – mild, spicy, tomato, spicy tomato – the gift that gets opened on the table.
