Visit at Antonius Caviar
In late September we had a pleasure to visit Antonius Caviar – an exclusive caviar producer whose caviar we are using on a daily basis in our restaurant.
We arrived in Ruś near Olsztyn at the special invitation of the company. Together with other chefs and journalists, we took part in a tour of the fish farm. We discovered the process of breeding of two types of sturgeon – Russian sturgeon (acipenser gueldenstaedtii), and Siberian sturgeon. In order to obtain the desired size of caviar, you need to breed fish for 12 years, provide proper nutrition and conditions, a crystal-clear water with a desirable current. The roe is carefully selected to achieve the finest quality – the biggest, and the most expensive, eggs are 3 mm in diameter. Once the caviar reaches the processing plant, it is cleared and salted in sterile conditions (without the precisely measured portions of salt it would have a neutral and blank taste!), packed, labelled and prepared for sale.
Antonius is a family company established by an experienced ichthyologist Antoni Łakomiak, a globally recognised expert in caviar. Many years of work have resulted in an excellent quality product, which is served in some of the best restaurants in the world. We are happy that it is also available at Water&Wine. Apart from visiting the fish farm, we had a pleasure to taste some of the caviar types produced by Antonius. We learned that the eggs vary in colour, from light grey to dark green and black and that the roe colour is an individual characteristic of a fish. The colour does not affect the flavour but the firmness and most of all the freshness are what affect the product. It is very delicate and needs to be eaten within few months from packaging in the vacuum-sealed tins. Most importantly, it must be stored at low temperature because it doesn’t contain any preservatives. The best way to taste it is to use a pearl spoon and put a little bit of caviar on the warm skin of palm, between thumb and index finger to make it warm enough to release the aroma. Then smear it all over your palate.
After visiting the fish farm we participated in a seminar with the producer and the invited ichthyologists about the history, the production scale, the market and the way of feeding of the two breeds of caviar sturgeons. We want to thank Antonius Caviar for this knowledge and the finest quality product, which we can serve to our most refined guests.
