- Claudia: Agroittica Lombarda
Group in northern Italy produces 15% of the world's caviar. The group is based in the Lombardy region and is split into two companies: Ars Italica Caviar, which farms sturgeons near the city of Cassolnovo, and Calvisius Caviar, based in Calvisano, where the two companies also
share the extraction facility. In total, both farms stretch
over 250 acres of land and breed seven species of sturgeon, with 28 tons of caviar produced per year. The most expensive caviar
produced here, Beluga, costs $5,700 per kilogram. We visited Ars Italica's farm
where there are four species: Russian sturgeons, starred
sturgeons, Adriatic sturgeons and sterling sturgeons
in the albino variety. At this site, we can
find 300,000 sturgeons that can go from 1 year
old up until 20 years old, and they can reach a
weight of up to 60 kilos, and actually this site is close to a natural reserve that's called Ticino. The fresh water and clean
climate of the natural reserve make an ideal home for
the sturgeon, which spends its first years in indoor
incubators with well water and is then moved to
an outdoor water supply fed with resin water. - Claudia: Sturgeons take
from eight to 20 years to produce their eggs,
depending on their species. At the top of the chain is Beluga, which takes 20 years to mature. When ready, the belly of
the fish is sliced open and the egg sac is removed. After extraction, eggs are
rubbed over a metal grate and then rinsed to remove any impurities. As flavors differ from fish to fish, eggs from each sturgeon
are packed individually. The eggs are then salted
following the "malossol" recipe, which means there is a
less than 3% salt content. Then the eggs are packaged and will be mature and ready
to be eaten in a few months depending on which sturgeon
breed they come from and on customers' preferences. Oscietra caviar comes
from Russian sturgeon, Sevruga from starred sturgeon, and Da Vinci from the Adriatic sturgeon. - So we just left the production facility where we've seen how caviar
was extracted and packaged, and now I've got in front of
me a caviar tasting plate, and we've got the Oscietra
in both Royal and Imperial, and then we've got the Sevruga one. The right way to taste caviar
is to either use your hands or, if you want to use cutlery, with a spoon made from
mother-of-pearl or bone because metal could alter
caviar's natural taste. Mmmh. So my favorite one is
actually the Imperial one. It really has some sort of nutty taste. It's kind of strong. It's less fishy. It's a bit
more creamy in your mouth. Twenty-seven species of
sturgeons exist in nature. However, as much as 85% of wild sturgeons are now on the brink of extinction, and regulations have
been in place since 1998 banning wild caviar trade and fishing. This is why many caviar farms
use sustainable aquaculture to produce their delicacy.
Beluga caviar is cheaper than marijuana.
That thumbnail looks like the inside of a gallbladder.
Can anyone tell me if you can buy reasonably priced caviar while in Europe? If so, can you give me the names of the stores and the approximate prices?
Has anyone bought here https://caspianmonarque.com/caviar/osetra-iranian-caviar/ or no? Would love to take it back home to the USA as a souveneir for others as well as for myself.