Caviar d'Aquitaine

Appearance & taste

The caviar consists of non-ovulated eggs (oocytes) of the sturgeon, with little liquid seeping out. Size and colour are uniform: all natural colours are permitted, but within a tin the eggs must be the same colour, in one or two shades. According to the specification, the colour range of this sturgeon species is more variable than that of other sturgeons. The eggs separate easily from one another. Young caviar is firm and becomes softer over time; after pasteurisation the egg membrane can be felt slightly.

Under two months old the caviar is odourless; after that it may smell slightly of fish. It has notes of butter, cream or nuts. Over time it becomes saltier, and its taste and smell grow more intense and linger longer on the palate. It must taste not at all or only very slightly bitter and fishy, and never rancid, metallic or earthy.

Production

The sturgeon are bred and raised in the area; the producers select the breeding stock, the males for robustness and growth, the females for size and egg yield. A breeding cycle lasts nine years on average. They are fed pellets made from fishery products, more than 90 % of which come from by-products of food processing or from certified sustainable fisheries; threatened or endangered species are excluded. The feed contains no genetic engineering, antibiotics or colourings, and palm oil only as a binder up to 1 %.

Slaughter, extraction and packing take place at the same site without interruption: no more than four hours may pass between slaughter and the sealed tin. The producers select the roe by the size and colour of the eggs, put together uniform batches and salt by hand with non-iodised table salt of at least 99 % sodium chloride. How much salt is used depends on the ripeness of the eggs. Packing follows immediately after salting, because the delicate eggs should be handled as little as possible.

Origin & history

After the First World War, Russian caviar production had been destroyed by the revolution. Caviar was then made on the Gironde from the European sturgeon (Acipenser sturio), which still lived in the estuary at that time. By the end of the 20th century this species was almost extinct. To keep caviar production going, research was carried out in Aquitaine on the Siberian sturgeon, a freshwater fish from the rivers of Siberia.

In the 1990s the first sturgeon farms were set up on the Isle and in the Bay of Arcachon; in 1996 caviar was sold under the name “Caviar d’Aquitaine” for the first time. The area belongs to the Aquitaine Basin and the catchment area of the Adour and Garonne, with the Adour, Garonne, Dordogne and Charente. According to the specification, the Siberian sturgeon is fully adapted here; the altitude, temperature and turbidity of the water determined the boundaries of the area.