When we moved to Israel last year, many of my US-based friends were lamenting the fact that I would find it difficult to find good herring here. While its true that in a country of over 300 million people you are going to have literally dozens of herring manufacturers and hundreds of herring varieties to sample, the State of Israel, with its population of only 7.5 million, has nothing to be ashamed of. Herring (דג מלוח) is popular here and found everywhere. They even discussed it in the Talmud. A well-known Talmudic reference from the Minor Talmudic Tractate (Mesechtot Katanot) Mazon (Food) reads as follows:

אם יש חסידים יש דג מלוח

This says: "Im yesh Chassidim yesh dag maluach" or "If there's Chassidim there's herring". Some of the best Israeli herring I've found is sold in the Chassidic communities of Ramat Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem.

Today, we are posting a really nice matjes herring that I found in Kfar Saba. The shop is called Mercaz Hadagim v'haChamutzim. This was an absolutely first-rate matjes with firm, pink flesh, coated with scallions. Not overly salty and really quite tasty. Loved it!