Brittany

France's most important fishing region, with a sardine canning industry dating to the 1820s when Nicolas Appert's preservation method was first applied to Breton sardines at scale. Douarnenez and Concarneau became the centres of French canning, and at their peak the ports supported hundreds of canneries. Today a handful of producers carry the tradition forward: La Belle-Iloise in Quiberon, Connétable and Conserverie Chancerelle in Douarnenez, La Quiberonnaise in Quiberon, and Groix and Nature on the island of Groix. Breton sardines, mackerel, albacore tuna, and cod liver are the principal products. Vintage-dated sardines from Breton producers improve in the tin over months and years as the oil penetrates the flesh. The region also produces some of the finest albacore tuna from Atlantic pole-and-line fisheries.