Karasumi /Bot(t)arga
A Delicacy from the sea sought by Arabs Italians & Japanese alike.
Karasumi (The Bottarga of Mullet) is a product for Gourmets: it has an aggressive sea-taste, if tasted as snack or starter, and it releases all its natural taste of sea-product if tasted with Spaghetti, or cut in narrow slices, seasoning with oil on fresh tomatoes or mozzarella
Karasumi
Dried roe in Japan is usually made from mullet (bora), but in the Sanuki region, Spanish mackerel has long been used. It was such a delicacy that it was given as a present to the shogun during the Edo period (1603-1868). Dried roe is made by packing the roe in salt for about one week, then removing the salt and drying under the sun for one day. The fish was caught in the spring, the dried roe was made in the summer, and it reached its prime for eating in the autumn. Because it is sun-dried, the flavor varies slightly according to the weather. The highest grade end-product has a luster and no speckled marks.
The traditional procedures for preparing bottarga is different from place to place only for a few but important secrets. The filmy sac that encloses the eggs must remain intact or the bottarga cannot age properly. You can eat bottarga with bread and butter or grated in the pasta.
Cos Zantiotis says:
Zeta Karasumi is the culmination of three generations of Karasumi production
that started on the Greek island of Kythira , continued in Australia by his
father who he emigrated in 1932 and succesfully exported his smoked Roe to
the Arab Nations in the 40's and 50's and 60's.
After experimentation with new processing and
Packaging methods Cos Zantiotis has improved both the flavour and quality of
his Karasumi in such a way as to ensure the flavour is greeted with acclaim by
the people of Nagasaki,the heartland of Karasumi production in Japan
Stefano Rocca says:
It
was the Arabs, during their domination, who introduced bottarga - the
salted and dried eggs of tuna or mullet - into our cooking.
The Sardinian culinary tradition succeeded in adopting this unusual
food - a kind of Mediterranean caviar - and transforming it into one
of its most typical and sought after products.
Stefano Rocca, utterly convinced of the value of bottarga, was the first
in Sardinia to produce and commercialise it, in so doing increasing
its fame outside the confines of the island.
I’m Sure the Japanese and probably other peoples would have their own histories of its beginnings.
