Børsen friday 27.12.02. :: Ole Trolsø


Caviarfarms save the Sturgeon.


Caviar is one of this planet’s most magic and sought after delicacies. For that reason the sturgeon has been ruthlessly and increasingly exploited . In the course of the last 20 years 90 % of the known stock has been exterminated according to UN.
Therefore, quota systems and strong control has been introduced, which has, of course, helped, but pirate fishing and black market trade still threatens the sturgeon. The best news in many years is that it is now possible to produce sublimely good caviar from bred sturgeon. It is the Siberean Baerii sturgeon, which provides the eggs at farms in France, where the Russian sturgeon thrives as a fish in water.

Baerii sturgeon from Siberia was brought to breed in 1990 in French river farms. This sturgeon may become up to 100 years of age, weigh about 100 kiloes and reach a length of 3 meters. The female produces eggs from the age of 8, and thus farmed caviar now is being traded.

The Fight of the Caviar

The taste of genuine sturgeon roe and roe from other fish cannot be compared. The sturgeon is markedly different and more delicate than in other fisheggs, but in “Børsen”’s test of caviar both types are included.
UN rules say that if kaviar is spelt with a (C) one talks about the real thing from a sturgeon, while (K) should be used for eggs from all other types of fish. This rule is not often followed, and one should not be taken in by the spelling, but by the quality.
Nature programmes about tropical fish often show big types swimming along followed by different small fish. The same picture may be seen in the marketing of caviar products.

Confusion of copies

Here is a confusion of copies, placing themselves in the slipstream of the genuine article.
Copies that will not deceive the connoisseur even for a moment, for example the terrible Avruga, which brashly has been given a name very close to Sevruga - the genuine product. But Avruga is made from herring, it tastes like herring, and I absolutely do not think that it is worth the money. However, as the test shows beginning with the copies and followed by the genuine article, there are kaviar products at the cheap end, which are wonderfully tasty.

Amateurs in Caviar

The panel of judges consisted of amateurs of caviar, in the true meaning of the word; persons, who love caviar and have a non-professional attitude to it, but, having eaten the genuine article hundreds of times, are competent in such a way, that they can immediately point to a copy, and judge between the real products.. One might think, therefore, that caviar connoiseurs would spurn the Baerii Caviar, partly because it is bred in a river farm, and thus raised in fresh water, not in the salty Caspian Sea as its cousins. But Baerii came in on a fine second place and as well as on a fifth place.
There was a trap, of course, in that Baerii was in the test twice. One tin was packed in November, the other one in December, and the first one was the one that came out the best, while the tin from December (No. 5) was characterised by being a fresh water fish.
If one wants to be absolutely sure about the most sublime experience of taste, it must be recommended - on the basis of the test - to go for Oscietre or Sevruga as noted. But if one wants to wish the sturgeon and its family a happy new year, and with a good conscience, then do it with a tin of Baerii Caviar. It is, with French State Guarantee, produced without risk of exterminating the fantastic sturgeon, which has not changed at all since prehistoric times, and one, which it would be sad to write off the list of species, just because it shall have a place on the menu.

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