Frequent Questions
Bottarga or Boutargue?
The good news - it's the same thing.
Salted and dried wild mullet eggs.
Bottarga is also called Bottarga in Italian, butarga in Portuguese, botarga in Spanish or karasumi in Japanese. We find the origin of its name in the Provençal language, according to the standards of the Occitan language, with the word “ Boutargo ” which finds its origin in the Arabic word (boutharkha) which means “dried fish egg”. It is also called "Mediterranean caviar" because of its rarity and its geographical origin. Indeed, the whole Mediterranean basin disputes its origin: Martigues, Greece, Tunisia, Italy... we are not going to create any disputes, our bottarga or boutargue comes from Cotignac.
Here's some common questions we receive.
1) Where to buy bottarga?
You can buy bottarga online, via producers directly or in delicatessens for example.
2) What is a bottarga?
Bottarga or boutargue, is a pocket of wild deep-sea mullet eggs which is salted, rinsed and then dried. It can also be called "Mediterranean caviar" and can be enjoyed as an aperitif on toast or with pasta, risotto, fish or carpaccio.
3) How to remove the wax from bottarga?
You can gently remove it with the tip of a knife.
4) Where to buy Boutargue in Paris?
You can find it in delicatessens such as La Maison Plisson, La Maison Nordique, but also in kosher grocery stores. The list of our distributor points of sale can be found at the bottom of the page.
5) Where to find Bottarga in Marseille?
You can find some at the Monoprix du Prado in the fish counter, at Mazal Cash or contact Mr Bendao whose contact details are in the list of distributor outlets and who can deliver to your home.
6) What does bottarga taste like?
Boutargue has an iodized taste similar to that of sea urchin.
7) How to store Bottarga?
Bottarga is best stored refrigerated. After opening, it is necessary to wrap it with cling film. Shelf life is approximately 6 months.
Remove from the refrigerator 20 minutes before consumption.
8) Which wine with Bottarga or alcohol?
Bottarga goes very well with Boukha which is a fig alcohol, with pastis, whiskey or mineral wine.
9) What guarantees are there concerning the freshness of our bottarga?
We produce every week and we don't have any advance stock.
In accordance with European approval, our bottarga have batch numbers and expiry dates which are mentioned on the back of each bottarga. Our bottargas are vacuum-packed.
10) As with salmon, are the bottarga from farmed sources?
Yes, in recent years, the resource has become more scarce and many farms have emerged. So'Boutargue uses only eggs from coastal fishing in the Atlantic off the coast of Mauritania. Normally the source is indicated on the packaging.
So'boutargue only uses eggs from coastal fishing in the Atlantic off the coast of Mauritania. The boutargues are selected according to their size and the quality of the sample.
The egg pouches should be smooth and shiny with a nice orange yellow color and should not have any tears.
11) Can we eat bottarga when we are on a low-salt diet?
In principle, follow the advice of your doctor.
It depends on the total amount absorbed in a day.
Consumed reasonably, bottarga has little impact on your diet.
That said, some bottarga are saltier than others and this depends on the method of salting, nature of the salt used, rinsing and above all the salting time.
So'Boutargue makes every effort to produce a low-salt bottarga.
12) Should we keep the bottarga refrigerated?
The bottarga is coated with a protective film based on edible waxes. The wax keeps the product away from air, light and anything that could affect it.
For better preservation and especially after opening it is advisable to keep it refrigerated and wrapped in cling film.
13) How to choose your bottarga?
Visually it is not obvious, the color, although not very apparent under the wax, can vary from golden yellow to glossy brown.
The only criteria are height and weight.
The larger the bottarga, around 20 cm, and larger the weight, between 180 and 240 g or more, the more likely you are to have made the right choice... and of course the price will correspond.
14) Is So'Boutargue kosher?
The first quality of a gourmet product is to be tasty and provide pleasure.
This is what we have achieved with So'Boutargue.
Nevertheless, in order to satisfy all lovers of Bottarga and in respect of the traditions and requirements of kashrut, we have complied with the rigorous specifications of the Badatz (approval) Beth Yossef of Israel.
So'Boutargue is hiding Beth Din of Israel Mahadrin Beth Yossef.
So we wish all a tasting and good Shabbat.
Please email hello@soboutargue-usa.com and we'll be happy to answer your questions!