CAVIAR CHEAPER THAN A SMARTPHONE

Indeed if we consider an average price of €1,000 for a smartphone of 250 gr we get a price of €4/gr. The average price of a kilo of baerii caviar is €2,000 or €2/gr.

Yes caviar is a luxury product but it is above all an artisanal product that requires care and patience and that is what makes its price.

Let’s talk about our Caviar Black Pearl and its cost. First we buy our fry from the oldest nursery in France. On average 10,000 a year! Then we raise them for 3 years it means:

-         A site dedicated to fry

-         In regularly maintained tanks, with nets to protect against attacks from birds such as cormorants and herons that feast on our small sturgeon

-         A significant amount of healthy food (GMO and HEMOGLOBIN free) purchased from a French producer

-         A volume of electricity to power our paddles (small mills) which by beating the water brings to our fry the oxygen they need.

After three years of waiting only! We give them an ultrasound to define the sex (it’s the only way to know it) it means:

-         Someone trained in ultrasound

-         A powerful ultrasound system to be maintained and changed when necessary

-         Dedicated time for our 10,000 fry, one by one, an ultrasound.

To keep only the females!

Then it’s another seven years waiting for caviar. Indeed the average maturation of our females is 10 years unlike the average of 7. Why? Because Mr VIDAL the Director and Founder of Caviar Black Pearl looked for the best breeding site and settled in Eyzies de Tayac for this reason. Which one? Our fish farm is classified as a Natura 2000 zone (protected environment) and fed by a stream from a spring, whose water is classified in category 1.

To respect this preserved and healthy nature we raise our sturgeon in an eco-responsible way. This means:

-         An open circuit water course, so we have fresh water which lengthens the maturation of our sturgeon

-         Healthy French food with rations distributed in each tank by hand

-         Daily monitoring of the welfare of our sturgeon by our aquaculture technicians, 7 days a week.

It is a tedious, long work, of which we are proud! Indeed all our team is composed of enthusiasts and when we consider on the one hand that the average maturation of a sturgeon Acipenser Baerii is 10 to 12 years in the wild and on the other hand that the average maturation of our Baerii is 10 years in artificial conditions (breeding), we can say that we have achieved our goal of a natural and breast breeding.

Then when our sturgeon are maturing, meaning they have eggs after a 10-year growth, the work is not done. Before proceeding to manufacture:

-         We check if they have the right eggs, the right size, by passing each one another ultrasound

-         They are then placed in a specific tank fed by drilling water (which includes an electrical cost) so that they eliminate cyanobacteria (which can alter the taste of caviar). That’s another wait time.

Before proceeding to the production of caviar in our laboratory, we perform a biopsy on each female to check the quality of the eggs. 

Finally, we use the ikéjimé method, it is an ancestral Japanese technique, which aims not to make our fish suffer. So they do not release stress hormones that could alter the taste of caviar and fillets. It’s an individual, artisanal, handmade slaughter technique. It can’t be done on industrial farms. 

At Caviar Perle Noire, we attach great importance to the well-being of our residents, we have made it a priority. 

Finally we move to the production of caviar, according to the following traditional method:

-         Gonads are associated by size and color

-         The gonad is then stripped on a sieve to detach the eggs

-         They are then rinsed

-         Then we take the time to let them drain

-         They are then salted

-         Then put in a ripening box

-         These boxes are then placed in the cold room for a period of 15 days to 6 months waiting

-         Then when the ripening time is reached, each ripening box is reconditioned into a small box

And all this in hand!

The caviar Perle Noire is a product, refined, handmade, produced after 9 years of waiting, this is what makes its price but especially its exceptional quality and its incomparable flavor to share with the family, why not on the occasion of the Christmas holidays …