How farmed caviar came about

Sturgeon farming was developed in the 1930s to repopulate the Caspian Sea. The Iranians were already practicing artificial fertilization to obtain fry (baby sturgeon) and then release them back into the sea.

The Soviets also used this sturgeon breeding technique in the 1950s. In fact, the construction of numerous hydroelectric dams on rivers tributary to the Caspian Sea prevented sturgeons from migrating upstream and hindered their reproduction. Long before the CITES decrees were issued, the Iranians and Russians did a great deal to preserve the species through rearing.

Research was then carried out to safeguard local species in North America and Europe from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. In France, they have been implemented by researchers at the Centre national du machinisme agricole, du génie rural, des eaux et des forets (CEMAGREF), which launched a program to reintroduce the European sturgeon. In 1975, CEMAGREF imported the first sturgeons from Siberia (sturgeon for the production of Baeri caviar), to familiarize itself with restocking techniques.

At the end of the 1980s, a handful of breeding pioneers began the caviar adventure in France, Italy and California! The first experiences are difficult, as the breeding process is long and costly. You need to create an ecosystem as close to the wild as possible (pure, oxygenated water), have good strains of sturgeon, wait at least seven years to obtain the first eggs and, once the eggs have been extracted, produce caviar using meticulous know-how!

Fun fact: Kaviari’s “caviar boutique” team has worked closely with breeders to help them improve caviar production. I’ll always remember my father Jacques Nebot welcoming the breeders who had come to present their first farmed caviar in early 1990. He immediately spat out the caviar, so earthy and muddy did the grains taste! So there was work to be done with them to help them improve quality. That said, in less than 30 years, rapid progress has produced farmed caviar of a quality that has nothing to envy of wild caviar!