La handmade roe of wild mullet ogliastrino, in Sardinia, with its new brand, is the most expensive roe in Italy and perhaps the most expensive in the world. Four hundred euros per kilo is its price for a product fished and processed by hand in the Tortolì pond. A very limited production: a maximum of two thousand pieces a year, hence the high price of the product. While the imported mullet roe is produced in very large quantities but it certainly has a different flavour, for this reason the prices are halved.
Its origins date back to thePeschiera Reale d'Ogliastra 1316“, the date to which the first medieval documents that speak of the pond of Tortolì date back. It is a fish that is completely handmade and has become the top product of the Tortolì Fishermen's Cooperative. Pescheria Reale's mullet roe takes up the ancient customs of local processing, inherited over the centuries, trying to keep the quality unchanged, but at the same time, to adapt to the regulations of the period.
In those same ancient documents there are references to the Bottarga of the Tortolì pond, at the time Peschiera Reale d'Ogliastra part of the Royal Heritage. Many compliments and appreciations to the point that "the tin products were so valuable as to be used to bribe the judges".
And how to pay homage to the hard work of generations of fishermen? With the selection Top of the best artisan roe of wild mullet from the Cooperative. For the Peschiera Reale d'Ogliastra wild mullet roe, the logo takes its cue from the ancient name “Regio Patrimonio” and from the noble coat of arms of Donna Francesca Puliga (an important local historical character linked to the Tortolì pond). Characterized by an elegant packaging, velvety to the touch and embellished with gold-colored inserts. Alongside a card that explains its origins and processing to distinguish it from another line of bottarga of the Cooperative, produced instead from imported mullet and worked with the artisanal methods of local fishermen.
What makes this roe so valuable? Because the mullet from which it is produced is wild, therefore it lives in the sea and when it enters the pond of Tortolì it is delicately caught in the catching plants. Also fishing it is done manually to safeguard the integrity of the ovarian sac. Subsequently, the fishermen follow an ancient process, always manual, starting with cleaning and washing with sea water and subsequent salting, performed only once and only with Sardinian sea salt. Then start the drying stage of the eggs for a few weeks, maintaining certain levels of humidity with delicate attention, necessary to avoid dehydration of the product. In the rest room, the roe matures in the dark in an environment with controlled temperatures and humidity monitoring. The preparation process ends with the evaluation of the product and a "soft" wash in fresh water. Once the optimal level of maturation has been reached, the product is stored under vacuum in a cool place, protected from light and without any type of preservative or additive, only sea salt from salt pans of Sardinia.
Like all bottarga on the market, Ogliastra bottarga can be dark on the outside but always blonde on the inside. For this reason some connoisseurs call it "the wild blonde". A real Italian gastronomic excellence, with an intense and slightly aromatic flavor able to give the dishes an enveloping and delicate taste and therefore inevitable in the kitchens of connoisseurs of first fruits.
