A pleasant surprise. It appears
that farming sturgeon for caviar is working very well and it also follows that
farming sturgeon for the flesh will not be too far behind. As this Vancouver
article shows, it is well underway as an industry and will soon sort out
remaining quality issues. I watched the
same happen in other sectors of the farmed fish industry and it is noteworthy
for its capacity to rapidly expand.
Caviar’s day as a luxury will soon be over and we will even be able to
acquire beluga caviar at acceptable prices.
I consider the advent of tank grown sturgeon as way more important.
This is an excellent white fish that is generally prized and will find ready
acceptance in the market as supplies rise to handle demand.
I also consider sturgeon as a premier prospect for natural managed wild
stocks in Canada ’s
boreal lakes along with non migratory Coho salmon. The potential for production there is easily
in the millions of tons with proper husbandry.
Meanwhile we can all look
forward to developing a taste for high quality caviar without sweating the cost.
Caviar dreams
fulfilled: Ethical, delicious and even Canadian
ALEXANDRA GILL
Published Tuesday, May. 22, 2012 2:42PM
EDT
Last updated Tuesday, May. 22, 2012
5:32PM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/caviar-dreams-fulfilled-ethical-delicious-and-even-canadian/article2440069/singlepage/#articlecontent
Robin Leach, relax. Your champagne wishes are coming true. Caviar, a decadent indulgence that had nearly vanished from the lifestyles of the rich and famous, is back in vogue. Thanks to booming aquaculture production, today’s seductive little balls of salted sturgeon roe are ethical, delicious – and relatively affordable, too.
Robin Leach, relax. Your champagne wishes are coming true. Caviar, a decadent indulgence that had nearly vanished from the lifestyles of the rich and famous, is back in vogue. Thanks to booming aquaculture production, today’s seductive little balls of salted sturgeon roe are ethical, delicious – and relatively affordable, too.
While great caviar was once harvested only
from the Caspian Sea, new sturgeon farms in China, Uruguay, Israel, Italy,
Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Russia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and,
yes, Canada have created a sustainable industry to fill the void left by
depleted wild stocks.
In fact, farmed caviar is pretty much the only
kind (legally) available these days. After the fall of the Soviet
Union , a maelstrom of overfishing, poaching and pollution drove
the prehistoric fish to the brink of extinction. In 1998, the UN Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) stepped in to protect wild
sturgeon from the Caspian and Black
Seas with a series of
catch and export quotas.
Beluga caviar, the most highly prized eggs
from the most critically endangered of the world’s 27 sturgeon species, is
still outlawed in the United States – even though the CITES ban was partially
lifted in 2007, allowing minute amounts to be exported to the rest of the
world. While critics question the effectiveness of CITES’s variable policies
(some say they contribute to a flourishing black market), there is next to no
wild Caspian sturgeon caviar sold by reputable dealers – unless you’re willing
to pay about $750 for a 30-gram tin of Iranian imperial beluga.
But if nature abhors a vacuum, the luxury
market disdains it even more. And the new sturgeon farms, which, according to
The Caviar Times, have more than doubled global caviar production over the past
five years, have spawned an industry that many say is as good, if not better,
than the original. Even Armen Petrossian, whose Paris and New York-based caviar houses
account for 15 per cent of the world market, now relies 100 per cent on farmed
sturgeon.
“Caviar connoisseurs initially shied away from
farmed products,” says Behzad Tehrani Ami, owner of Vancouver ’s International House of Caviar
Ltd. “In the beginning, it tasted a little muddy. But aquaculture has come very
far in a few years. And wild caviar simply isn’t an option any more.”
The good news for champagne environmentalists
is that farm-raised caviar can be eaten with a mother-of-pearl spoon – and a
clear conscience. This innovative form of aquaculture uses closed-circulation
land-based tanks with fish that are at least two generations removed from wild
brood stock.
Given Canada ’s rising prominence in the
global caviar trade – two newly producing farms and a third on its way – we thought
it was time to put our tiny black eggs to an international taste test. One
night recently, I was joined by Kasey Wilson, the Globe and Mail’s West Coast
wine critic, plus André Saint-Jacques, a caviar fanatic and owner of the
Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, B.C., a fine-dining restaurant that sells more
caviar than almost any other in Canada.
We blind-judged six caviars, all different
species with three from Canada, on a 10-point score based on appearance (two
points), aroma (two points), texture (three points) and taste (three points).
The results were fascinating.
Farmed beluga caviar from Germany was the
runaway favourite. The beads were larger, fatter and far more flavourful than
the rest. No wonder it’s so coveted.
Species type primarily accounts for fluctuations
in size, shape and colour. Traditional quality rankings prize beluga for its
large, pale silver eggs; followed by the extremely rare small, golden sterlet;
the medium-sized, brownish osetra; and the smaller, grey sevruga (none of which
is currently being farmed).
But when it comes to flavour and texture,
water, feed and the delicate art of packaging can also make a difference.
Though our tasting panel unanimously adored the Siberian baerii from Germany,
the same caviar repackaged by the importer into a smaller tin was markedly more
soft, sticky and surrounded by liquid with an undesired fishy aroma.
How did this caviar change so dramatically? It
was oxidized, having likely been exposed to too much air when transferred from
its original packaging or not resealed tightly enough.
Repackaging is common and necessary for
selling smaller quantities (caviar is often imported by the kilogram). But it
also offers nefarious opportunities for producers and distributors to lose
track of a caviar’s origin. Though not always legally required in Canada ,
repackaged tins should be stamped with a CITES import code. (Our beluga, osetra
and repackaged Siberian baerii weren’t.) The Canadian caviars showed
exceptionally well. Among the three judges, we all had a different favourite.
Although we had initial doubts about including Acadian Premium, a legally
harvested wild product from New Brunswick that was almost past its best-before
date, the fatty roe was so bracingly strong and pleasingly fresh, some of us
(okay, it was me) considered it Canada’s best.
The initial tastings were interspersed with
2002 vintage Dom Perignon, allegedly the best champagne pairing for caviar. But
much to our surprise, sake and vodka pierced through the saltiness and worked
better at cleansing the palate. We were also somewhat shocked to see how
drastically the caviar flavours changed when paired with unbuttered blinis and
crème fraiche. Most, but not all, were enhanced by its traditional
accompaniments, which mellowed their natural salt and metallic bitterness.
All in all, this is good news for discerning
bargain hunters. Sure, farmed beluga may cost a fraction of the price of the
original wild species. But with a little sake and crème fraiche, even the
cheapest farmed caviar will please your inner tsarina.
The taste
test
Beluga
(Huso huso)
Imported by The International House of Caviar
from United Food Technologies in Fulda ,
Germany ; $275
for 30 grams
Age: Three months
Appearance: Big, glossy grey grains
Aroma: High-grade sea salt
Texture: Super creamy, not much pop
Taste: Fatty almonds, long rich finish
Panel
says: “Crème de la
crème of caviar.” “Pure.”
Score: 8.3/10
Siberian
Baerii (Acipenser baerii)
Imported by The International House of Caviar
from United Food Technologies in Fulda ,
Germany ; $75
for 30 grams
Age: Two months
Appearance: Small, shiny, dark black grains
Aroma: Ocean fresh
Texture: Firm, mild pop
Taste: Sharp saltiness, subtle nuttiness
Panel
says: “Shows well in all
categories.” “Premium caviar.”
Score: 7.5
Acadian
Premium – Wild Atlantic Sturgeon – (Acipenser oxyrinchus)
Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar, Carter’s Point,
N.B.; $75 for 30 grams
Age: Nine months
Appearance: Tiny dark grains
Aroma: Strong fishiness
Texture: Firm, creamy, melts in the mouth
Taste: Clean and briny, hint of walnut
Panel
says: “An intensely
flavoured caviar that will please traditionalists.” “Not for wimps.”
Score: 7
Northern
Divine – White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)
Target Marine Products, Sechelt, B.C.; $99 for
30 grams
Age: 12 months
Appearance: Small grains, inconsistent colour (dark grey
to black), lucid sheen
Aroma: Seaweed
Texture: Thick membrane
Taste: Buttery, mild saltiness
Panel
says: “Full-bodied
flavour in a small grain.”
Score: 7
Breviro –
Shortnose Sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum)
Breviro Caviar, Pennfield, N.B.; $100 for 30
grams
Age: Four months
Appearance: Large, golden beads
Aroma: Garden soil
Texture: Satisfying pop
Taste: Muddy, earthy
Panel
says: “It looks like
osetra, but tastes like dirt.” “Needs more than champagne to cleanse the
palate. Maybe we should have paired it with pinot noir – or a tongue scraper.”
Score: 6
Asetra
(Acipenser gueldenstaedtii)
Imported by the International House of Caviar
from Israel
– producer unknown; $135 for 30 grams
Age: Three months
Appearance: Crushed grains, drowning in juice
Aroma: None
Texture: Soft
Taste: Tinny, long bitter finish
Panel
says: “Horrible on all
counts.” “Are you sure this is sturgeon?”
Score: 5.6
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