A Manatee County bottarga producer has been recognized for its tasty, responsibly preserved fish.
On Jan. 20, Anna Maria Fish Company owners Seth Cripe and Ed Chiles took home a 2017 Good Food Award for their Cortez bottarga, the salt-cured roe of grey striped mullet that's often referred to as "poor man's caviar." Their company, established in 2007, rolls out more than 1,500 pounds of the stuff every year, providing bottarga to area restaurants like Sandbar, Beach House and Mar Vista Dockside, which Chiles also owns.
For local eaters, the duo's win in the Preserved Fish category is significant in that the annual awards acknowledge American food producers, and the farmers supplying ingredients to those producers, who prioritize exceptional flavor alongside environmental and social responsibility. According to a news release, Anna Maria Fish Company, the first in the U.S. to produce bottarga, aims to add value to the community and fishermen of the working Cortez fishing village, where its high-quality grey striped mullet are caught.
"It has been a great privilege to join Seth in this important endeavor," Chiles said. "His passion and vision for artisanally producing a value added product from our community's number one heritage seafood resource is something that can be a game changer for our local fishing community, while branding our area and providing a model for how other communities can look at their local resources for value added opportunities as well.
"This is about heritage, history and economic development that is done in a sustainable way."
Good Food finalists, representing 14 categories and 38 states, were judged during a blind tasting of 2,059 entries in September, plus undergoing a vetting process to ensure they met certain sustainability standards.
Anna Maria Fish Company wasn't the only Florida biz among the 193 winners, either. Stuart-based Castronovo Chocolate received an award for its bean-to-bar Dominican Republic dark milk chocolate, while the Kenya Kagumoini (Kamacharia Coop), from Lineage Coffee Roasting out of Orlando, was also recognized in the Coffee category.
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2017.