Our Boteh find the origin of their name in the history of ancient Persia. Boteh comes from the term "Boteh Gegheh", the term boteh alone meaning "bouquet of flowers". The Boteh Gegheh evokes by its shape the foliage of a cypress, a conifer emblematic of the Persian Emperors.
Our Boteh compositions are not jams but culinary preparations giving pride of place to spices. Iran, ancient Persia, was at the heart of the spice route and welcomed ships and caravans from the East to the West. Spices were then luxurious products, a real currency of exchange.
It is only logical that Comptoir des Poivres called on Nasrin, a native Iranian, passionate about cooking and spices, to create a unique and highly qualitative range.
Like the hunters and spice sources, Nasrin selects only the best raw materials, Willamette raspberry from Serbia, Litchi from Vietnam, Damascus rose (from the north of the Isfahan Province in Iran), Geranium from Egypt, pistachio from Iran, Maltese orange from Spain, saffron from Iran, Mirabelle plum from Lorraine, purple fig from Morocco or Turkey, Braeburn apple from France, cinnamon from Iran, black lemon from Iran…
"The associations that we find in my preparations come from my culinary experience, mainly Iranian cuisine, rich in flavors and very fragrant. It is this that gave me this sensitivity towards spices. First of all, having grown up with two women (grandmother and mother) renowned “for transforming hot water into wonderful food” (literal translation of a Persian expression), this allowed me to learn to cook from a very young age and to be in contact with different spices and floral perfumes. As a result, I learned to juggle with these different flavors. My first dish “kholeshte gheimeh”, I cooked it at 8 years old. As for the preparation of the jam , this goes back to Iranian habits regarding breakfasts which are accompanied by homemade jams, prepared by my mother or my grandmother. It is of her that I think of when I prepare my Boteh.
Later, when I arrived in France, I persevered in my “homemade” habit and always sought to add a touch of creativity to my dishes. This was later found in my floral arrangements, when I opened a flower shop in Paris, where I combined flowers and food, for example apples or marshmallows which I integrated into my bouquets. . Gradually, all these associations found their way onto our plates, maintaining my desire to revisit traditional dishes. As I always say: “jam and me are a love story that has lasted forever”.
In recent years, we have acquired a house in Burgundy which has fruit trees, which gave me the opportunity to prepare jams with my own fruit. And in each of these preparations I incorporated a spice, a flower or an astonishing mixture."