Attilus raises sturgeon, and chooses its bottarga: the salted, pressed and dried roe of wild grey mullet, sold in the UK and on Attilus's web shops in Europe.
Whole and sliced bottarga. From the Attilus library, photographed on Tuesday 26 May 2026.
At Jessen, its own farm in Germany, Attilus raises sturgeon; the film of the farm is in the Journal. The house calls itself producer and curator, and bottarga belongs to the second word. The mullet behind it is wild, and Attilus does not farm it. Attilus chooses the bottarga made from the mullet's roe.
Caviar and bottarga both begin as roe. For caviar, the sturgeon's eggs are sieved, washed, sorted and salted, then vacuum-packed into tins. For bottarga, the egg sacs are taken out whole, with care, then cleaned, salted, pressed and dried. Attilus bottarga comes from the grey mullet, Mugil cephalus, and has two ingredients: the roe and salt.
Wax, beeswax or a vacuum pack
It comes three ways, and Attilus's European shop has listed all three since Wednesday 30 July 2025. Bottarga in Wax is sealed in a crystalline wax, Bottarga in Beeswax in yellow beeswax, and Bottarga in Vacuum Pack has no wax at all. Each piece is whole, so no two weigh quite the same, and the shop sells them in weight ranges. Attilus sells it in the UK as well, and its team can say which of the three.
Grated, or sliced thin
Its taste is subtly salty, its texture medium firm and silky, and it is a seasoning as much as a dish. Grate it over pasta or risotto, or shave it onto warm bread and oil: salt, depth and a little of the sea. On Thursday 10 September 2026, Attilus's Instagram asked how to lift a simple plate of pasta, and answered in four words: "Add freshly grated bottarga." The same post called its flavour rich and savoury.
The Slow Food Foundation calls spaghetti with grated bottarga, parsley, garlic and a pinch of chilli a classic, and suggests the roe in very thin slices with a little olive oil and lemon.
Grated over pasta. From the Attilus library, photographed on Tuesday 26 May 2026.
Caviar wants a spoon. Bottarga wants a grater, and something warm beneath it.
In this piece: Attilus bottarga on attiluskaviar.com, and the mother-of-pearl spoon.