And on the Farm He Had Caviar (E-I-E-I-O)
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

New York Times
Dec 22 2004

Published: December 22, 2004

IT is time to add new players to the usual caviar vocabulary of beluga,
osetra and sevruga: transmontanus and baerii.

Farm-raised caviar is becoming a better option than the shrinking and
restricted wild harvest, and the sturgeons of choice are Acipenser
transmontanus and Acipenser baerii. These terms are showing up on
caviar tins.

The quality of farm-raised caviar has improved dramatically, and the
amount that is available keeps increasing. It is being produced in
California, France, Italy and Uruguay, and experiments are also under
way in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Armenia.

Cultivated caviar is a response to decreasing supplies of Caspian
Sea caviar. The quotas for the 2004 catch have been sharply reduced
to protect the fish. That and the weak American dollar are driving
the already exorbitant price of wild caviar even higher, starting at
about $60 an ounce compared with $30 and up for farm-raised.

Armen Petrossian, the chairman of the caviar company that bears his
name, said: “Today about 25 tons of caviar are farm-raised, compared
with about 180 tons of wild. In five years I would estimate we’ll
see 150 tons of farm-raised on the world market.”

Petrossian now sells transmontanus caviar, which is also called
white sturgeon, from Stolt Sea Farm in California. It is $40 to
$45 an ounce in two grades: royal, which I found to have an earthy,
osetralike flavor, and imperial, which has a delicacy like beluga.
Stolt Sea Farm’s caviar is also marketed under the brand name Sterling
and is available at Zabar’s for $65 for two ounces.

Browne Trading in Portland, Me., is selling transmontanus from Italy
at about $50 an ounce. The texture of the dark grains is impeccable,
with a flavor that has sweetness and hints of black truffle. This
caviar is also available at Balducci’s stores.

(Exact price comparisons are difficult to make because some places
sell caviar by the gram and others sell it by the ounce. The price
usually drops for larger amounts.)

Tsar Nicoulai, another California company, is producing good, buttery
transmontanus, which it sells for $53 to $63 an ounce, depending on
the grade. Williams-Sonoma has it, too, for $65 an ounce (in two-ounce
tins) for select, the higher grade.

A type of Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii, is being cultivated
in Uruguay. At Eli’s Manhattan, it is $37 an ounce. This baerii has
a smallish, sevrugalike grain and darkness, but is exceptionally
clean tasting, with delightful nutty overtones. Paramount Caviar in
Long Island City, Queens, also carries the Uruguayan caviar at $45
an ounce, but is now sold out and awaiting a shipment.

Acipenser baerii has been cultivated in the Bordeaux region of
France for about five years. D’Artagnan’s house brand is from Caviar
d’Aquitaine, owned by Pierre Bergé, a former partner in Yves Saint
Laurent. It is just under $60 an ounce. This caviar is dark gray
with a clean, fresh salinity. Petrossian sells French baerii from a
different company for around $60 an ounce; it has a small grain and
a softer texture than the company’s cheaper transmontanus. The flavor
is not quite as bright.

At prices like these for cultivated caviar, you might consider wild
Caspian Sea caviar after all, unless political or environmental issues
are factors. But it is best to buy only from Iran or Azerbaijan.

Earlier this year it seemed doubtful that any Caspian Sea caviar from
the 2004 catch would be approved for sale. In October wild caviar was
finally given the green light by the international organization that
regulates the trade, and by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fine Azerbaijan osetra from the 2004 catch is around $60 an ounce.
Delicious, classic Iranian osetra, which meets extremely high
standards, starts at around $75 an ounce most places, more for caviar
labeled golden or imperial.

As for beluga, which once dominated American caviar sales, little
is available, because of restrictions placed on the catch. Also, no
fresh caviar is coming in from Russia. This season the best beluga
is from Romania, on the Black Sea, for at least $85 an ounce.

“Prices are now as high as I have ever seen them,” Mr. Petrossian
said. “They may come down a bit after the holidays. But we are trying
to get our customers to experiment with different caviars. You can’t
just sell beluga anymore.”

Whether caviar is purchased from shops, mail-order catalogs or online,
the jar or tin should be labeled as to type of caviar and country of
origin. Those that say only “Caspian Sea” are best avoided because
they could be from an older harvest.

And if you want to indulge in caviar in a restaurant but shudder to
think of the price, there is a bring-your-own policy until Jan. 1
at Le Périgord, 405 East 52nd Street. The accouterments are on the
house. Georges Briguet, the owner, is also serving Iranian osetra at
cost, $130 for two ounces, for what may be the only caviar bargain
around.

–Boundary_(ID_ZnS3ahAlzGpwONCVc2D3YA)–