Signora Rosa: Our favorite stop for 'bottarga'

When you see the following sign driving on the Via Provinciale per Vibo Marina, between Pizzo and Vibo Marina, then STOP !
 

 Dalla Signora

Rosa

   Prodotti tipici

artigianali

Next to her home, Signora Rosa has a small store, the door is always open, a curtain protects from the sun. You will find a nice choice of local home made mouthwatering products. We love to stop here and buy black olives, sun dried tomatoes, paté of sun dried tomatoes with chili, spicy anchovies,  .... 

Signora Rosa in summer 2012

 

.... but what we love most is bottarga! Bottarga from Calabria is made of dried tuna roe cured in sea salt. It is also called the "caviar of the South" and it's sold in form of a stick, and you can grate it on top of your spaghetti aglio olio peperoncino! So yummy!

 

We always buy for us, for friends and for Italian chefs back home ... This bottarga is stronger in taste than the one from more Northern Mediterranean regions. I guess, it is also more salty since the sea down in the South is more salty. 

 

Bottarga di Tonno ! Our favorite product made in Calabria!

( 7 Euro / 100 gr ) 

 

Signora Rosa's little warehouse and shop from the street

  

Singora Rosa in her shop in April 2013, selling us due chili (2 kg)

 

When we passed by in April, her shelves were almost empty. But the shop was open and Signora Rosa came over from her house to sell us some bottarga sticks. For better transportation in our suitcases we changed the anchovies and sun dried tomatoes from glass jars to shrink-wrapped bags. Actually, I really like the simply styled product label:

 

Anchovies in chili oil

 

This small family business has no website, no email address, no colourful brochure. They just concentrate on their skills and on the product quality. They are happy with what they can sell. They live with the season. No need to expand.

 

However, what la signora has for you is a little paper of bottarga recipes (I usually wrap those around the product which makes the gift perfectly authentic):

 

(click to enlarge picture) 

(When we are grating a lot of bottarga on pasta, we usually do not add salt into the boiling water, since the bottarga itself is already very salty)