It's a rare, sustainable luxury, and now you can try it in West Vancouver.
A New Brunswick company is now producing farm-raised, legally sourced caviar from the shortnose sturgeon (acipenser brevirostrum) - the world's fi rst.
For years, dwindling fi shing yields have meant that the caviar of the sturgeon is the most expensive; in the case of this endangered species, it's also illegal.
But over the past decade, Maritime-based Breviro Caviar has spent millions raising thousands of the sturgeon and at last, has launched their product: rich, golden-brown roe, infused with sea salt from the Bay of Fundy. Jefferson Alvarez, executive chef at West Vancouver's Fraiche Restaurant since the spring, dishes up spoonfuls of the luxurious treat to willing diners - one of only a few chefs in the Lower Mainland to do so.
According to reports, Breviro plans to keep supply limited by processing a maximum of 1,800 fi sh a year (each sturgeon can yield 200,000 eggs), so you're not likely to see it in your grocer's cooler any time soon.
The hope though, is that if the aquaculture takes off and consumers see the value in the farm-raised caviar, wild stocks of sturgeon will have a better chance at long-term survival. And that can only be a good thing, so eat up!
