CORTEZ, Fla. — For centuries, fishermen here have netted mullet, an oily fish that retails for about $1 to $3 a pound and takes well to deep-frying or smoking. But in Italy, where some of this village’s harvest is shipped, sacs of roe are removed from the fish, cured and marketed as a delicacy, bottarga, that often sells back in the United States for more than $100 a pound.
Seth Cripe, who was born 34 years ago in this coastal village an hour south of Tampa, wants to capture some of that profit for the fishermen and artisans of Cortez.
In 2007, he began salting, pressing and sun-drying the roe sacs in a style that many Americans associate with Liguria and Sardinia, two regions of Italy where cooks frequently finish pasta dishes with a quick grate of briny bottarga. Today, Mr. Cripe, working with his business partner, Ed Chiles, produces more than 1,500 pounds of Cortez bottarga each year, sold under the Anna Maria Fish Company label to a few retailers and a growing number of influential chefs.
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