High and roe: how Europe’s largest caviar producer farms its black gold

Thought of as gastronomy’s ‘black gold’ for its indulgence, the delicacy that is caviar, is roe traditionally extracted from wild sturgeon, originating from the Caspian and the Black Sea.

However, ever since the wild sturgeon was placed on the endangered species list in the Nineties, caviar lovers have had to rely on farmed roe to sate this particular craving.

Northern Italy’s Agroittica Lombarda Group – consisting of Ars Italica Caviar and Calvisuis Caviar companies – produces 15 per cent of the world’s caviar. The most expensive of their products, Beluga caviar, can command $5,700 per kilogram.

In this video, we head to Ars Italica’s caviar farm, to learn more about the fish that, over years, produce the luxury foodstuff: Russian sturgeons, starred sturgeons, Adriatic sturgeons and sterling sturgeons of the albino variety.

View the original video here.