Sibirskye Caviar

This caviar comes from Siberian (Baerii) Sturgeon, which is a main stay of the farming industry, both in its pure form and use in hybridisation. The name, Sibirskye, is simply Siberian in Russian. I thought that up in a rare moment of creativity and have been pleased with myself ever since.

The reason that Siberian Sturgeon are used so widely is that they mature relatively quickly for a sturgeon and can produce very good quality caviar. They mature at around 8 years of age and the caviar tends to be dark in colour with a medium sized egg. The flavour tends to impact at the front of the mouth, not unlike a Sevruga caviar. It is not a subtle caviar and lacks the lingering, back of the mouth mysteries of a good Oscietra. This makes it ideal for canapes or forming part of a dish.

The caviar comes from an outdoor farm in northern Italy, where water temperature is controlled using warm spring water blended with cold run off from the Alps. The water flows through the farm and is not re-circulated or treated in any way. This means that the sturgeon are always living in pure water, which is perfect for producing fantastic caviar as sturgeon can store the flavours of their environment in their eggs.

This caviar is made in the traditional manner. The mature fish are scanned to assess egg size. The equipment used is really the same as used in our maternity units! If the eggs are deemed to be of sufficient size, the fish is humanely dispatched and the eggs removed. From that moment, no more than 11 minutes will elapse before the caviar is sealed in its initial tin and placed in refrigeration for maturation. The salt content is about 4%.

The farm is registered under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), as is the caviar which means that we all know that it is not derived from wild fish stocks.