Austria: Is this GOLD-laced caviar the world's most expensive food?
The most rare and expensive form of caviar comes from the critically endangered beluga sturgeon that swims in the Caspian Sea
A father and son duo in the Austrian town of Groedig believe they have invented the world's most expensive food product.
Made from rare albino fish eggs and 22-carat gold,
their "Strottarga Bianco" caviar retails at a staggering €100,000 ($110,191) per kilogram.
Caviar Beluga Iran - Darya Caviar Talesh
The
most expensive of all caviar, and indeed the world's most expensive
food is 'Almas', from the Iranian Beluga fish - 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) of this
'black gold' is regularly sold for £20,000 (then $34,500). Almas is
produced from the eggs of a rare albino sturgeon between 60-100 years
old, which swims in the southern Caspian Sea where there is apparently
less pollution.
Caviar is traditionally eaten
directly from the skin between the index finger and the thumb. The eggs
are rolled slowly around the mouth and pop to release the flavour.
Do you know what Caviar is and where does it come from? How is Caviar made?
Costing at least US $ 1,000.00 per kg, this fine delicacy consumed by
select human beings has a disgusting origin that you need to see. I
would not eat for free. But taste is not discussed, see for yourself if
it is worth it after knowing where it comes from and where it comes
from.
A sector based on good taste !
By Wu Wencong ( China Daily ) 2012-April-12
When
a sturgeon reaches a designated weight it is put into a cage for closer
monitoring, as this fish farmer is doing in Zhejiang province.
[Photo/China Daily]
At
a breeding center in Thousand Island Lake in East China's Zhejiang
province, workers transfer sturgeon from one submerged cage to several
to provide more growing room. The workers transport the sturgeon in a
boat built around a large water-filled cage. With the exception of
feeding the valuable fish, this is the most important work at the
center. [Photo/China Daily]
Chinese caviar's success shows tide is changing in its favor, reports Wu Wencong in Beijing.
April 8 was a red-letter day for conservationists.
More than 1,200 farmed Chinese sturgeon were released into the Yangtze
River to increase the numbers of this rare species in the wild. One of
more than 20 species, the Chinese sturgeon, or acipenser sinensis, is
unique to China and has existed for more than 140 million years. It
enjoys protected status and it is illegal to breed or trade it
privately, let alone have one on your dining table.
However, other types of sturgeon don't enjoy such
revered status in China. They are cultivated commercially for their
eggs, which are known as "roe" and can be processed into caviar, one of
the most valuable foodstuffs in the world. Caviar bearing the label "A
Product of China" has been available since 2006.
The international trade in sturgeon-related products
once relied overwhelmingly on fish from the Caspian Sea, the world's
largest lake, and accounted for about 93 percent of the global caviar
trade in 2003, according to data released by the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
However, overfishing, rampant poaching and
environmental damage have sharply reduced the numbers of sturgeon in the
Caspian in recent decades, forcing devotees to look elsewhere for their
favorite dish.
"Ninety nine percent of the caviar traded in the
global market now comes from farmed sturgeon," said Ni Hao, founder of
Lindys Foodservice Consultant and former executive chef at the China
division of Unilever's food solutions department.
Insiders say that China accounts for nearly 20
percent of the sturgeon in the global market, despite its relatively
brief breeding history of less than 15 years, and the country's produce
can now be found in Europe, the US and Japan. It's become a stable
supplier of high-end brands such as "Petrossian" of France and can also
be found in the first-class cabins of international airlines.
Although China is a relative newcomer to the world of
caviar production, the prices of the product culled from certain types
of sturgeon are higher than those of many foreign counterparts because,
unlike the majority of rivals, sturgeon in China are mainly raised in
natural waters rather than the recycled variety prevalent in fish farms,
leading to larger fish and bigger eggs.
"Water is a very important factor in determining the
quality of caviar," said Ni. "It may taste too earthy if the water used
is not of high enough quality. Larger eggs normally mean higher prices,"
said the 39-year-old expert.
Sturgeon thrive best in water temperatures ranging
between 15 C and 23 C. But the boom areas of the Chinese industry are
mainly located south of the Yangtze River, such as Thousand Island Lake
in Zhejiang province and Yichang in Hubei province, where air
temperatures can easily top 35 C in the summer.
At Thousand Island Lake, for example, the highest
water temperature in summer is 33 C, far too high for at least two
species raised there, the Siberian and Amur sturgeon, which require a
temperature of 22 C.
The surface area of the lake is 573 million square
meters, and so the fish are held in underwater cages - covering around
40,000 sq m - to ensure that they can be captured easily. Each year, as
summer approaches and temperatures soar, workers at the center transfer
the sturgeon from the submarine cages to a "summer resort" pool,
excavated on an island in the lake. Cooler water, taken from a depth of
15 meters and averaging around 16 C, is continuously pumped into the
pool.
The sturgeon usually spend around three months in the
resort. "We start transferring the fish in early June so they will
survive the hottest period between July and September," said Gong Liang,
deputy director of the center. He said the transference of the fish is
the most labor-intensive part of his job, standing in water under a
sweltering sun several hours a day for a month, netting sturgeon that
can easily weigh more than 100 kilograms. "It's really strenuous labor,"
said Gong, "But the good news is that we take a monthlong vacation once
it's completed."
In 1997, researchers at the Chinese Academy of
Fishery Sciences began to import tens of millions of fertilized eggs
from Siberia. The same year saw the start of a program to breed wild
sturgeon in the Heilongjiang River in northeast China. "The breeding
project there was aimed at preserving the species," said Wang Bin, a
former researcher at the academy, who was in charge of developing the
method of cultivation and promoting it throughout the country.
Wang said rivers are the best places for wild
sturgeon, which require a course as long as 1,000 kilometers to spawn,
with the foods available in the river and the stimulation provided by
the current playing an important role in the spawning process. "But, it
(Northeast China) is not an ideal place to farm sturgeon, because they
are kept within a restricted area," he said. "Moreover, it takes around
two or three years before a sturgeon grows to more than 1 kg. In the
south, the time required is just one year."
In 1999, when the breeding process first began to
spread in China, sturgeon cost more than 200 yuan ($32) per kg in the
markets, and more than 1,000 yuan in upmarket eateries. The average
house price in Beijing at that time was just around 3,000 yuan per sq m.
However, by 2003, when an increasing number of people began to enter the industry, the price dropped to about 40 yuan per kg.
 |
Wang saw a second chance for the industry after he investigated overseas
and realized that sturgeon eggs were far more valuable than the flesh.
So he left the academy in 2003 and immersed himself in the industry. Now
he is the general manager of Hangzhou Qiandao Xunlong Sci-Tech Co, one
of the first Chinese companies to export caviar.
But the process of producing the eggs is difficult
and extends further than simply raising the fish. Sturgeon don't attain
full maturity until they are 7, or sometimes even 15 years old, so
simply keeping them alive for such an extended period is a task fraught
with difficulty and cost, not to mention the advanced technologies and
long experience required to distinguish gender and extract the eggs.
"The best time to extract the eggs is during the
first 11 weeks of the sturgeon's stage 4 maturity," Wang said. "This is
very difficult to master. The eggs are not rich enough if extracted
earlier, but they wither if taken later." It's essential that the eggs
undergo 16 different processes within 15 minutes of extraction to ensure
the best flavor, he said.
Unlike their Western counterparts, Chinese caviar
producers operate a model that includes independent fishermen, plus
breeding and processing centers, and the use of companies that sell the
eggs.
Fang Xinming, a 38-year-old fisherman at Thousand
Island Lake, was among dozens of fishermen that helped enterprises to
breed sturgeon at an early stage in their development. In November, he
bought 20,000 newly hatched sturgeon weighing about 0.1 kg each. In
around three years, when the fish weigh more than 10 kg each, a
processing company will buy them and continue raising them in large
cages in a lake.
Fang started breeding sturgeon in 2009, when he
bought just 5,000 because of concerns about the high level of investment
and his limited knowledge of the fish. But now he has no concerns at
all and expects to make a profit of 2 million yuan in two years.
"I've talked my two brothers into raising sturgeon
this year," said Fang. "Most people are still looking on. Their eyes
will pop out when they see me making all that money. What other kind of
fish can bring you a profit of 1 million yuan in a year?"
Currently, there are three main companies involved in
the production of caviar in China, and all have high hopes. Hangzhou
Qiandao Xunlong at Thousand Island Lake started test runs at its new
processing plant in Quzhou, Zhejiang province this month. When fully
operational, the factory will be the largest in Asia with a processing
capability of 35 metric tons a year.
Tianxia Sturgeon (Group) in Hubei province started
construction of the World Sturgeon Industrial Park in Wuhan, capital of
Hubei province, in 2009, scheduled for completion in 2014, with planned
investment of 1.3 billion yuan.
The third company, Yunnan Amuer Sturgeon Aquaculture,
attracted a large shareholder in May, and is aiming to become a
first-class caviar brand in 10 years.
"The high technology threshold and the long wait
before one sees a profit have prevented many people from entering the
industry," said Wang Bin. "I see that as a good thing for the industry -
it doesn't offer quick money, but it will grow slowly and steadily."
..
Contact the reporter at wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn
Welcome to the world of Carelian Caviar
Traditionally, caviar production has been all about mystique. Carelian
Caviar is not. We set out to make the best caviar in the world – for a
new age – and will gladly tell people how we do it. We are proud of our
farm and would love to show you round. The tour starts here.
Tasmanian Salmon Caviar: The Huon Journey
We've been producing salmon caviar for over 10 years but during the 2015
season Christian Zuther-Grauerholz, Co-Owner of the world's oldest
caviar house Dieckmann and Hansen visited to help us refine our process.
What transpired was a week completely dedicated to the art of caviar.
No comments:
Post a Comment