Salted Fish (Pwason Sale)

This is a nostalgic Seychelles dish, a testament to the times before refrigeration when preserving food was a challenge. Salting was one of the traditional preservation methods. Although less common today, you can still find salted fish, or Pwason Sale, if you know where to look. 

Salted fish is simply any fish that has been caught and covered in salt in order to preserve it. It is enjoyed in many Seychellois dishes including curries, soups, and stews. With Seychelles’ unlimited access to amazing coastlines and nearby coral reefs, the options for freshly caught fish might seem endless. However, bad fishing days do happen, and this is where the practice of salting fish came in. 

This preservation method was prevalent in the days before refrigeration, a practice that came relatively late to the remote islands of Sychelles. However, using salted fish in a recipe takes time due to the long de-salting process, so poisson sale is used less in the modern age. Still, it can easily be found in markets and stores, as well as in coconut curry, where the fat of the coconut helps to counteract the saltiness of the fish.