Excerpt from an article
by Ulrich “the cook” Boesen
Jyllands-Posten - Sunday December 15, 2002

Just a small tin

Baerii - French Caviar

........At the firm of Hanstholm and shellfish a kind man was in a position to tell me much more about this new phenomenon. He started by saying “earlier on sturgeon lived in the river Gironde (known to every lover of great Bordeaux’s). Actually a certain family named Prunier produced a good deal of caviar from Gironde at the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, following the 2nd World War, it went wrong because of changes in the environment and overfishing. And in 1980 not one sturgeon was left in the river.

In the meantime, a French businessman, Pierre Bergé, who created the fashion house Yves Saint Laurant, had taken over Maison Prunier. Together with a group of breeders he decided to re-establish caviar production in France under the name of Prunier. Sturgeons were imported from Siberia, and they were apparently so pleased with their new French environment, that they quite quickly started breeding in captivity. We are talking about a fourth species - that is our old friend the Acipenser, but this time with the byname Baerii. And now, well over a score of years, the breeders have come so far that there are enough eggs for a smaller production. Only 5 tonnes a year are made, and the French, loving caviar more than any other people, consume the lion’s share themselves.
But in the course of three years, it is estimated that production will be about 15 tonnes a year.

The eggs are drysalted and mature exactly as Russian or Iranian caviar, and are packed in tins. No additives, colouring or pasteurising - and all is done under strict control of Big Brother EU.

Here, don’t you want to taste it?. The cook nodded eagerly, conscientious as he is on behalf of his readers. The caviar turned out to be particularly fine and delicate - dark, lightly salted and quite oily, but with a fresh and quite complex taste of sea with tones of something slightly mineral in the aftertaste. Quite on a par with the wellknown species, he thought. But the price, what about the price, he asked somewhat concerned. It will certainly be less expensive than Russian or Iranian caviar, calmed his informant. We do, however, expect most of the sale to be to restaurants. Here we only know the wholesale price. But we are probably talking about Dkr. 10.000 retail. In other words a tin of 50 grammes will retail at about Dkr. 5-600 - expensive certainly, and yet within the limits of possibility for many people. Here, take a small tin home with you he ended generously.

Home again, the cook decided magnanimously to add French, please! besides caviar on the want list.5

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