An impending heatwave has threatened to stow away — or rather, further preserve — countless tins of anchovies. That imminence has now become an unfortunate reality for Fishwife, which announced Wednesday that it is pausing shipments of the delicate fish for the summer.
“As temperatures continue to grow across the country, we wanted to take time to understand exactly what conditions would keep anchovies (sic) texture and flavor at their very best,” the woman-founded tinned seafood brand said in an Instagram statement that wittily pokes fun at a recent joint announcement made by a disgraced reality television duo. “We’ve come to the conclusion to take our anchovies offline for the summer as shipping them in the summertime heat drastically impacts their wondrous quality.”
Anchovies, best known for their buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture, are incredibly vulnerable to high heat because they are semi-preserved. That means the fish aren’t sterilized by cooking before they are packaged and sealed. Instead, they are cured solely with salt. Anchovies are stable and fresh when stored in a cool, dry environment. Expose them to heat, and they’ll break down quickly.
Fishwife isn’t the only brand that has issued a summer hiatus on its anchovies. Last year, Rainbow Tomatoes Garden, a family-owned business that claims to offer the world’s largest online selection of tinned fish, paused shipping of its salt-cured anchovy fillets. Most of their anchovies still remain out of stock, except for a few varieties, including shirasu and white anchovies.
“It would be absurd to keep going back and forth with the whims of the weather,” Dan Waber, Rainbow Tomatoes Garden’s owner, told Salon Senior Food Editor, Ashlie D. Stevens in June 2025. The brand added that it doesn’t use chill packs or thermal wrappings to keep its anchovy supplies fresh. “We find that overly wasteful,” Waber said. “So we are simply mindful.”
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As for fans of Fishwife’s tinned anchovies, there’s still hope. The brand said the product will be back in September.
“We’ve shown up for our anchovies over the years through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing the Fishwife team expected,” the brand said in its statement. “Our longstanding love for perfectly salty, buttery fish made it especially important for us to approach this with care.”
