Group · Fish
Capelin
The capelin is a small North Atlantic fish, close to herring, caught in very large quantities. Part of the catch goes into fishmeal and oil, while the rest is eaten whole, smoked or fried; its roe is used as masago in sushi.
In terms of nutrition facts, raw: 90 kcal per 100 g, with 18.7 g of protein and 1.71 g of fat, with 0.27 g of salt. The Ciqual table does not publish its micronutrient content for this entry: those fields are left empty on the page rather than estimated.
Macronutrient breakdown
Nutrition table per 100 g
| Calories | 90 kcal |
| Kilojoules | 380 kJ |
| Protein | 18,7 g |
| Fat | 1,8 g |
Tips
18.7 g of protein for 90 kcal. A very decent ratio, and one of the lowest prices of any fish.
A small fish: very few contaminants. It lives three to four years and feeds on plankton: like the sardine and the sprat, it hardly accumulates any mercury.
It is eaten whole, bones included. Its soft bones provide calcium. Grilled or pan-fried for a few minutes, it needs no added fat.
Smoked, it becomes salty. The 0.27 g of salt is that of the fresh fish. A smoked version contains far more: do not add salt to anything served with it.
Its stocks fluctuate a great deal. A key species in northern ecosystems, it is food for cod and seabirds. Quotas vary sharply from year to year depending on stock assessments.