Black caviar plant. Black caviar production: Russia, the world and “black gold”

5 minutes.

Caviar, “taken away” from the Russian sturgeon (Acipensergueldenstaedtii), has long been a symbol of the country’s wealth, its signature product and taste. During the existence of the USSR, this state accounted for 90% of the world market for Russiancaviar, as black caviar is still called in the world. And this despite the fact that its “production” has decreased significantly, and the production of black gold has been taken up by people and countries who were the last to be suspected of running such a business.

For example, in Iran in 1979, by a special decree of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the development of sturgeon farming was initiated. It was meant that animals stuffed with caviar would be raised solely for export, because Muslims do not eat fish without scales for religious reasons.

Methods for obtaining caviar

In order for you to order a bucket of black caviar for your wedding banquet, the restaurant director needs to buy it somewhere. The first way is to order from fishermen who farm or “wild” catch and gut fish. Another way is to find a special sturgeon farm where the fish are raised in the same way as broiler chickens. These have long existed in the USA, France and Israel.

One more nuance - the fish can be “milked” by squeezing the eggs out of the females with your hands, or slaughtered by cutting open its belly for black gold.

And here is the first hint for those who are planning to deliver cavyar to one of the. Such a sturgeon farm should be located as close to the consumer as possible in order to deliver a bucket of freshly gutted fish embryos to him in an hour or two. No, don’t be afraid, you don’t need a body of water the size of the Caspian Sea for this. Several pools, the size of which is smaller than the personal ponds of the celestials from Rublyovka, are quite enough.

Principles of organizing a sturgeon farm

In order for the fish to be at least briefly happy and productive, the farmer will need to create a closed water supply system (purification and ozonation). Games with thermal mode and lighting will allow owners to reduce the onset of sexual maturity of animals from 12-15 to 5-7 years. In addition, the manufacturer must choose an industry of his specialization - either he is engaged in the production of caviar, or he grows fish “for meat”. Anyone who is preparing to become a caviar king should take care of purchasing an ultrasound machine to check the degree of ripeness of the eggs without opening the females. The last issue is the organization of the purchase of special imported food for sturgeon, because the consumption of domestic mollusks, invertebrates and small fish, although it significantly naturalizes the process, will delay the onset of the period of sexual maturity of animals.

Caviar business buns

One sexually mature female will give her owner about 2 kilograms of caviar. The price of the goods is 50-150 thousand per kilo. At the same time, no one will sell it below 50 thousand rubles. It's not about the cost of the product, but about its status. This is a luxury item, just like diamonds or luxury cars.
Processing raw materials has minimal cost. Unskilled workers salt it in the proportion calculated by the technologist, wash it, and then pack it into jars using ordinary spoons.
A sturgeon farm requires a minimal amount of space. Such a farm can be organized even on a personal plot.

And although it is believed that similar business is long-term project and has low profitability, the feeling of a person involved in the production of black caviar is comparable to the pride of elite horse breeders, Maserati manufacturers and other people involved in the creation of high-quality goods.

The main place of production of black caviar (90% of world production) is the Caspian Sea. Production is also carried out in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea region, the lower reaches of the Danube, the Amur region and in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, on whose territory the Amur flows.

There are three main types of black caviar based on the breeding fish: beluga, sturgeon and stellate sturgeon. The largest and most valuable is beluga caviar. Fish farmers distinguish six stages of egg maturity. Usually, the fourth stage goes to the granular caviar, the third to the pressed caviar, and the second to the poultry caviar. In fish farms, maturity is determined by selecting small portions of eggs with a special probe.

In most commercial fish farms, eggs are harvested by selecting them using the “milking” method, cutting the oviducts and preserving the life of the females (S. B. Podushki method). Another method, “caesarean section,” is labor-intensive and does not allow working with large production batches of fish. The traditional method of obtaining caviar is the slaughter of female sturgeon fish; it is used when catching wild sturgeon fish, as well as in some farms.

Composition of black caviar

Black caviar is almost 50% water. About 30% are proteins, 13% are fatty acids and about 5% are inorganic substances. This product is rich in vitamins B, C, E, PP, as well as vitamin D, which is not found in red caviar. Black caviar contains a large number of polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as many minerals such as magnesium, zinc, calcium, iodine, sodium, silicon, iron and others.

The benefits of black caviar

First of all, black caviar is beneficial for health as a source of valuable (essential) amino acids and fatty acids. Omega-3 and omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids are essential for normal functioning of cardio-vascular system. These compounds help reduce the level of low-density lipoproteins (“bad cholesterol”) in the blood, thereby reducing the likelihood of developing atherosclerotic changes in blood vessels. In addition, omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have a regulating effect on metabolic processes in the body, strengthen the nervous and immune system, and also have an anti-inflammatory effect and normalize blood pressure.

Black caviar will be useful for people with iron deficiency. Pregnant women have an increased risk of developing iron deficiency anemia, so black caviar will be especially useful for expectant mothers due to its high iron content. Also, during pregnancy, many women experience calcium deficiency. As you know, calcium is absorbed by the body with the help of vitamin D.

Eating large amounts of calcium-rich foods will be pointless if a pregnant woman is deficient in vitamin D. Black caviar contains a sufficient amount of this vitamin. Regular consumption of black caviar (one small caviar sandwich per day) significantly improves the condition bone tissue. In addition, black caviar contains phosphorus, which is also necessary for the formation of bone tissue. Sufficient intake of phosphorus into the body has a beneficial effect on work nervous system and helps cope with conditions such as insomnia and mental fatigue.

Harm of black caviar

The harm of black caviar is mainly due to the method of its canning and storage. The product itself is practically harmless to humans, except in cases where there is an individual intolerance to any components of caviar.

Black caviar is canned food that contains a lot of salt. Therefore, its excessive consumption leads to an imbalance of water-salt balance, which is harmful, especially for hypertensive patients and people suffering from chronic kidney diseases.

In addition to salt, black caviar contains various preservatives and, possibly, flavor enhancers, which are also unsafe for human health.

In children, black caviar can promote development allergic reactions, since this product contains a large amount of protein.

How is black caviar made?

Stage one: the birth of a new life.

Suitable female and male sturgeon are selected. They are placed in a special regime: the water temperature drops from 24 degrees to 4-6 for 35-40 days (this is the wintering regime), then rises to 16 degrees, and ovulation occurs within about 30 hours. The pituitary gland of a carp or bream is injected into the fish, then its peritoneum is cut with a small knife (in the fish, the caviar is located directly in the abdominal cavity). Using a tube with a syringe at the end, eggs are collected from the females. In fact, fish are milked like cows. The eggs are mixed with sperm and transferred to trays.

Larvae appear 6-7 days after the start of incubation. They are kept for 2 weeks without feeding, feeding on their own protein. After 10 days, the larvae reach a weight of 700-800 mg.

Sturgeon lives in salt water and breeds in fresh water. In nature, production is very low: some of the eggs are eaten by fish, some die due to environmental reasons. For example, in our country, only 2% of fry reach the Caspian Sea.

The pituitary gland is a brain appendage that produces hormones that regulate growth, metabolism and reproductive function. 1 gram of sturgeon pituitary gland costs 130-150 dollars, but it is very difficult to find in the sturgeon head. The pituitary gland is dried, kept in acetone, ground into powder, then diluted with water and injected into the fish.

Stage two

After 4 months, the fry reach a weight of 150-160 grams and are transferred to a neighboring workshop designed for 30 tons of sturgeon, that is, 8 thousand heads.

A hybrid of Russian and Siberian sturgeon weighs 10 kg by the age of 3 years. The Russian lags behind in growth (at 1.5 years his weight is only 3.5 kg), but catches up at 4-5 years of age.

Technological diagram of the installation of closed water supply (RAS):

Pools with fish, dirty water from which goes into a cleaning unit. In addition to feces, fish release ammonia and carbon dioxide through their gills.
Cleaning unit:

Drum mechanical filter which removes suspended matter: fish feces and uneaten food (if any)
Biological filter consisting of polyethylene filler-substrate (small polyethylene wheels). Water passing through the filter is purified by bacteria from ammonia and nitrites,
Ultraviolet treatment, where water is disinfected,
An aerial channel where water is purified from carbon dioxide and saturated with oxygen using air bubbling,
A pump that supplies clean and oxygenated water to fish pools. During the purification process, the water is heated or cooled to the required temperature.

The control is automated; different sections of the RAS contain oxygen level sensors, temperature sensors, and water movement sensors. In the event of an emergency (pump stops, drop in oxygen levels), an alarm is triggered and all necessary measures are taken to eliminate the problem.

Stage three

Here the fish lives until its death. You can now take caviar from it. Caviar is obtained all year round. The herd is examined every 3-4 months, during which time it turns from gray to black. Then the fish is pierced with a special tube and several eggs are taken out to check the quality. If all is well, the fish is ready for cutting.

Stage four: pre-sale preparation

The fish are washed and selected for breeding or for meat and caviar. If the fish is destined for slaughter, it gets hit on the head with a hammer. Then the gills are removed, and the sturgeon is hung by the tail to drain all the blood. Then it goes into recycling. They cut the fish and take out the caviar! Then, through a mesh, the eggs are separated from fat and films.

Granular sturgeon caviar is not subject to heat treatment, and its shelf life is very short. In nature, the sturgeon fishing season does not last all year round, so a problem arose: how to preserve the gastronomic qualities of caviar for at least several months.

Then the caviar is placed in a special jar and the lid is put on. The calf is doing push-ups. To remove all moisture, the jar is placed under a press. This is all technical packaging. Then the caviar is taken out of these jars and packaged into jars for stores.

Now comes the fun part. The cost of caviar when you get it from fish is only $10 per kg! The most expensive thing in caviar is the jar. Yes, all these beautiful glass jars actually cost more than the caviar itself. During packaging and processing, caviar becomes 10 times more expensive - expensive preservatives, expensive jars that are ordered from Italy. When leaving the factory, a kilogram of caviar costs $100. And then they sell it. The price for a wholesale buyer at the factory is on average $1,000 per kilogram. Well, in our stores, caviar is already starting to cost $3,000 – delivery, customs and store markup.

Types of sturgeon black caviar

It is curious that in reality, real black caviar is not completely black in color, rather the opposite: the lighter the caviar, the more valuable it is. Sturgeon caviar differs in chemical composition and according to a number of other properties: the size and color of the eggs, the strength or elasticity of their shells, and, of course, taste.

Each type of caviar has its place in the “caviar hierarchy”, and therefore its price. This is explained, first of all, by the rarity or, conversely, the large number of a particular individual. However, under the conditions of artificial reproduction of sturgeon, the rarity factor is leveled out by human activity, so some producers do not comply with the price gradation at which, for example, stellate sturgeon caviar should cost less. In our opinion, this is quite fair, because each type of caviar has its own merits and its own connoisseur.

The first place belongs to beluga caviar. This fish is the largest of the sturgeons and the most valuable. Previously, she was famous for her size - she could reach 6 meters in length and weigh over 600 kilograms - but, unfortunately, in modern conditions V wildlife this fish is not able to grow to such a size. More than 25% of the beluga's weight comes from caviar. Female belugas reach sexual maturity at about twenty-five years of age and may not spawn every year. The lifespan of a beluga can be more than 100 years.

Due to the enormous size of the individuals, beluga caviar is usually larger than that of other sturgeons; it is valued above all for its large eggs (up to 3.5 mm) and thin shell. The color of caviar can vary from light gray to almost black. The lightest caviar is the most expensive, although the taste, which experts describe as “the subtle aroma of the sea,” should not depend on color.

Sturgeon takes second place. The sturgeon can grow up to 2 meters in length and weigh up to 200 kilograms, although usually adult fish weigh from 20 to 80 kilograms. Life expectancy is from 60 to 80 years. Sturgeon raised in the warm waters of fish hatcheries reach sexual maturity at the age of 8-10 years. Even young sturgeon eggs are large and mostly dark golden in color. Sturgeon caviar can be completely different in color: from dark gray to dark brown and gold. As the fish ages, the color of the caviar changes to light amber and it acquires an extremely subtle odor, described as “nuts and cream.”
The third place is given to sturgeon. This is the smallest of the commercial sturgeon fish. It rarely reaches a length of 1.5 meters and, as a rule, weighs no more than 25 kilograms. The female stellate sturgeon begins to lay eggs earlier than other fish of the sturgeon family, at the age of 7 to 10 years, and its caviar is considered to be most delicious at the age of 18 to 22 years. The weight of caviar is 10-12% of the weight of the fish. Sevruga caviar is gray-black, the eggs are small and neat. Connoisseurs appreciate it for its unique, incomparable taste.
Despite the fact that sterlet caviar is not included in the “royal hierarchy” at all, the caviar of this fish is worthy of recognition by lovers of black caviar. Its small dark gray eggs have a subtle characteristic taste.

Types of caviar by degree of maturity and processing

Grainy. To make granular caviar, only the best mature sturgeon caviar is used. The eggs should be strong, elastic, uniform in size and color. This caviar is salted dry. Granular caviar consists of whole eggs that are easily separated from each other.
Pasteurized. Pasteurized grain is salted dry. The caviar is packaged in glass jars, after which they are hermetically sealed and subjected to heat treatment - pasteurized. The main purpose of pasteurization is to increase the shelf life of the product. Pasteurized caviar can be stored for up to 24 months without losing nutritional and beneficial properties. As a result of heat treatment, the shell of the eggs becomes tighter, and the taste becomes less bright. This type of caviar is popular with people who don’t really like seafood with a strong fishy taste.
Yastychnaya. The ovary is the natural shell in which the eggs are located. Yastik caviar is salted directly in it, cutting the yastik into strips and immersing them in hot pickle. This is the cheapest type of black caviar. It is often over-salted. It is quite difficult to find caviar on sale: due to low demand, it is practically not produced.
Payusnaya. For the manufacture of pressed caviar caviar is used that is not suitable for granular production. This caviar, unlike granular and pasteurized caviar, is salted in hot brine, after which it is usually dried and pressed to obtain a homogeneous mass. We note, however, that some manufacturers are abandoning traditional briquettes in favor of glass containers.

Types of caviar by packaging type

Packaged. Caviar is packaged in glass or tin jars. Jarred caviar is the best, it has a delicate but pronounced taste and a pleasant consistency.
Weighed(barrel). Weighed caviar is most often a product prepared in an artisanal way, and you can find it in markets or from dubious sellers. Barrel caviar has a coarser texture, it is often improperly processed, and the rules for its storage are not always followed. In addition, for better preservation, harmful preservatives are often added to loose barrel caviar, which affects not only the taste, but also the quality of the product. We do not recommend purchasing such caviar.

How to choose caviar correctly?

Price. Black caviar is never cheap. Fair price - from 2500 to 4000 rubles per 50 grams, depending on the variety. Pressed caviar is usually packaged in larger jars or in special sealed packaging - as a rule, the weight is 120-125 grams. A standard package of pressed caviar costs 5,000–7,000 rubles. If you see caviar that costs much less, don’t even hesitate - they want to deceive you.
Manufacturer. For many years, black caviar was mined at sea - mainly in the Caspian Sea. However, today sturgeon are bred in aquaculture enterprises. Uncontrolled fishing in natural waters is too heavy a burden on the ecosystem. Nowadays, caviar is mainly obtained from fish raised in captivity, and females do not die after the eggs are removed, as before - special technologies make it possible to obtain caviar in a gentle way. Today there are about 10 large aquaculture farms in Russia. The stores most often sell caviar from Astrakhan (Raskat, Beluga), Vologda (Russian Caviar House), and Volgorechenskaya (Volgorechenskoe Fishery Farm).
Container and accompanying documents. Black caviar is sold in glass and tin cans. Glass packaging will allow you to immediately assess the type of caviar, its color and grain size. Keep in mind that pasteurized caviar in a glass jar can be stored for no more than 24 months, and pressed caviar - 8–9 months. It is more difficult to check the quality of caviar in a tin container. Experts recommend shaking the jar - if the caviar inside is “dangling”, if there is a feeling that the jar is half filled with liquid, return it to the shelf - this is low-quality caviar. Black caviar must be certified. The high quality of the product is indicated by the accompanying documents, which are necessarily provided by a bona fide manufacturer. They must state that the black caviar comes from aquacultured sturgeon and that it has a CITES permit.
Appearance. Some people think that the blacker the caviar, the better it is. But in reality, the opposite is true - caviar with light grains is more valued. The color of high-quality mature caviar ranges from silver-black to gray-brown. Black caviar is smaller than red caviar, but the size of the eggs can vary. The larger the grain, the older the fish was, and therefore black caviar with large eggs is valued higher - it is more rare. Not only the size, but also the quality of the grain is important. The eggs must be whole, not bruised, and of the same size.
Taste and smell. High-quality black caviar has a very faint smell that most people can hardly detect. A strong, bright fishy smell is a sign of fake or spoiled caviar. The taste of real black caviar is delicate and lightly salted. Excess salt and a pronounced bitter taste are a very bad sign. This kind of caviar should not be eaten at all if you value your health. The best black caviar has a rich taste with creamy and nutty notes, and the bitterness, if present, should be barely noticeable - this is a sign of caviar highest quality. It is not enough to choose the best black caviar - it must also be served correctly so as not to spoil the taste.

There are two serving traditions: Russian and European. According to Russian tradition, caviar is served in large porcelain or glass vases, from where it is spooned onto plates with a silver spatula. In Europe, black caviar is served in special small caviar bowls - vases placed in containers filled with crushed ice (this way the caviar stays cold longer). Caviar is served with a mother-of-pearl or bone spoon, but under no circumstances a metal spoon - caviar does not mix well with base metals.

Producers of black caviar in Russia

Fishery company "Diana" (brand "Russian Caviar House")

The largest and very first aquatic farm in Russia with the largest sturgeon population in all of Europe. It has an extremely serious approach to quality control. The fish is grown in the running water of the Suda River in an ecologically clean area of the Vologda region. Conditions are as close to natural as possible. No hormones or feed containing GMOs are used here, and the caviar is obtained in a gentle manner alternative method, which does not result in the death of fish. Among the clients of the Russian Caviar House are the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, Lukoil, Gazprom, Russian Railways and other major companies.

"Roll"

The fishery is located in the Narimanovsky district of the Astrakhan region, 45 km from Astrakhan. The temperature and composition of the water in which sturgeon live are as close to natural as possible. The company has been growing fish in cages and producing high-quality black caviar since 2007.

"Yaroslavsky" (Gorkunov brand)

The sturgeon fish factory, located in the Yaroslavl region, produces caviar using the slaughter method. The fish is grown in a technologically advanced closed system in purified water. Each batch of caviar undergoes careful control. To preserve the best taste, a minimum amount of salt is used in the production of caviar.

Rzhev fish-breeding complex (brand “Caspian Gold”)

The company started producing caviar quite recently, in 2014. The Rzhev fish farming complex produces lightly salted sturgeon caviar using the slaughter method. The main lines of caviar are not pasteurized and require special conditions storage

Volgorechensk fishery

One of the oldest enterprises of this kind in Russia, the production of black caviar began here in 1974. Caviar is obtained by the milking method. No preservatives are used in the production of the product, only the caviar itself and a small amount of salt. Both the fish and the final product undergo veterinary control.

How much does a kilogram of black caviar cost?

Regardless of all the parameters considered, high-quality black caviar is an elite, expensive product. On this moment A kilogram of black caviar in Moscow can be bought at a price from 40,000 to 90,000 rubles. For comparison, the same amount of red caviar salmon fish will cost from 2500 rubles, that is, tens of times cheaper. However, the price of black sturgeon caviar in Russia it cannot be called excessive: in Europe and the USA the cost of this delicacy starts from two thousand dollars per kilogram.

Beluga caviar price

Beluga caviar is the most rare view“black gold”, so it is quite difficult to purchase it in stores and it is expensive. So, the price of 100 grams of beluga caviar can fluctuate from 10,000 to 20,000 rubles, and a kilogram is up to 150,000 rubles.

Price for black sturgeon caviar

As already mentioned, sturgeon caviar is one of the most valuable types of black caviar. The price starts from 45,000 rubles for 1 kilogram, and this cost is relevant only for large packaging (500–1000 g). A small 100-gram jar will cost at least 5,000 rubles, that is, already 50,000 rubles per 1 kg. If we talk about black sturgeon caviar of the highest category, obtained from an individual at least 15 years old, then its price will be already from 60,000 rubles for 1 kg or 7000 rubles for 100 grams.

How much does a kilogram of black stellate caviar cost?

In Moscow, stellate sturgeon caviar will cost a gourmet from 50,000 rubles per kilogram for large packaging, and a small jar of 100 grams will cost from 6000 rubles.

How much does sterlet caviar cost?

The cost of sterlet caviar is slightly lower than sturgeon - from 40 thousand rubles per kilogram. Small packaging of black caviar will cost more: the price will be no less than 4500 for 100 grams.

The story of a delicacy we lost

Russia is rapidly losing its position in the sturgeon caviar market. Today, it is more profitable to produce the delicacy in China, Europe or Latin America. Journalist Alexander Kolesnikov, who published this material on the News.ru portal, looked into why this is happening.

Sturgeon swam from Russia to China

For many years, the USSR was considered the world's "caviar power." Annual production of black caviar sometimes reached 2.5 thousand tons, occupying almost 90% of the world market. However, over the past 20 years, the volume of production of the delicacy in the Russian Federation has decreased. Since the 90s, the sturgeon population in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea has decreased by 38 times, and on the Volga by 15. Gradually, the country lost its position in the world market and began to import products from other countries.

Experts from the All-Russian Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE) attribute the drop in volumes to total poaching at the end of the last century.

But sturgeon were almost completely exterminated during the period of mass auctions in 2000-2003. Short-term contracts were concluded with enterprises, and new players were not interested in preserving the population. Poaching, extremely low release of juveniles into the natural habitat, as well as growing hydrocarbon production on the Caspian shelf have led to disastrous results.

The ban on the extraction of black caviar in natural reservoirs in 2015 became a necessary measure. However, there is still a long way to go before the industry recovers. According to Rosrybolovstvo, last year the country received only 32 tons of sturgeon caviar. VARPE reports 43.9 tons, of which less than 8% (7.8 tons) was exported.

Today, the stocks of these fish species are maintained only by artificial reproduction. Specialists raise the so-called broodstock. Depending on the type of sturgeon, sexual maturation of an individual begins at seven years of age. In the case of the “slaughter” method of obtaining caviar, the fish stops its life cycle, and in the case of the “milking” method, the broodstock is preserved. Sturgeon breeds are long-lived, so after laying eggs they can live for several decades, and in the case of beluga - up to 100 years.

Already in the 1990-2000s planting material from Russia it was exported to Latin America, Europe and China. Abroad they began to raise sturgeon from fry to mature fish and achieved success. In particular, Chinese producers have carried out large-scale work on hybridization and adaptation of this family to their conditions and have become the main supplier of the delicacy in the world.

Business continues to milk sturgeons

News.ru managed to contact various Russian companies that produce sturgeon in Uruguay using the “slaughter” method.

Industry representatives told News.ru that almost 99% of domestic caviar is obtained using the intravital method, which has a number of disadvantages.

First, the fish is given a hormonal injection to induce “birth” and compact the grain. Such a product is considered immature. Secondly, warm water is used to wash the grains, otherwise the mucus cannot be washed away and the grain cannot be strengthened, which leads to mini-pasteurization and loss of beneficial properties. Thirdly, with each subsequent “milking” the caviar becomes more and more “empty” - less useful substances and vitamins.

The method was invented by Russian specialists for the purpose of fertilization, and the grain that was rejected went on sale and was a by-product.

Milking is a method of reproduction, not for production. Therefore, what domestic farms offer is not black caviar in its traditional sense, the Real Service company reported.

Meanwhile, VARPE President German Zverev categorically disagrees with this statement: “The technology for producing “slaughter” caviar is more expensive, this type of product is considered to be of higher quality, but this does not mean that “milk” caviar is unsafe or less “environmentally friendly.” These indicators depend on the health of the fish itself, which is primarily influenced by the conditions of its cultivation and nutrition.

In fact, industry representatives began to cooperate with Uruguayan farms due to the low quality of caviar in Russia. The commercial director of the Caviar Russia project, Anton Strizhakov, previously spoke to News.ru about negative trends in the industry. Among the reasons, the expert highlighted low competition in the domestic market, lack of government support, and the dominance of Chinese imports.

Domestic producers, instead of increasing the sturgeon population, have to use the “milking” method, since it is faster and less expensive. It should be noted that business in the Russian Federation even received various economic preferences and government subsidies for this.

There are also ways in the industry to mislead customers. Alexey Alekseenko, assistant to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, told News.ru about them: “I’m worried about why Russian companies allow you to cover Chinese caviar with your certificates. It's profitable. Chinese ones cost only $8-10 per 1 kg. And when it is imported here and sold as domestic, the price is already different - 30-34 thousand rubles. But you won’t see on the price tags that it’s Chinese. And those people who remember the taste of the real thing feel the difference.”

Climatic conditions in China, Latin America and Southern Europe are favorable for sturgeon breeding, while in the Russian Federation most of the largest fish farming complexes are located in a place that is quite cool for them. The result is high costs and an inability to compete with China.

Imported caviar is most often produced using the traditional slaughter method. According to experts, those abroad know and take into account the shortcomings of the “milking” method. In addition, it is banned in many countries around the world.

Due to the fact that Russian companies obtain caviar using this method, there are practically no mature large fish for slaughter.

You can buy live or chilled sturgeon on the market, but weighing no more than 2-4 kg. As a rule, these are males, since they do not need to be “milked.”

Thus, there are no good raw materials for shops involved in smoking and salting (losses during heat treatment reach 40%). They require carcasses from 5-6 kg. Abroad, males weighing 8-12 kg and even larger females are used for these purposes. There is no such fish on an industrial scale in Russia, so one can observe a shortage of sturgeon and high prices for such a product.

In a shabby house somewhere outside of Astrakhan there is a small iron stove: in it dozens of sturgeon carcasses taken from poachers are smoldering. Around are several witnesses with downcast faces from among the employees. law enforcement. The smell is incredible. This is how the golden age of sturgeon poaching in Russia is dying out: the fish, exterminated by illegal fishing, the development of large-scale industry, and environmental miscalculations, is turning from wild to aquaculture. Legal business is entering the scene.

For at least ten years, its owners have been raising herds of fish, and now they are receiving dividends: the production of black caviar has more than doubled over the past five years. Who are these new owners of the industry, what laws do they work under, and how profitable is their business?

It’s night, the border guards are chasing us, shooting. The owner of the boat is wearing a bulletproof vest. And our boat is narrow, plastic, like a sports boat - are you watching racing? two thousand two hundred Horse power squeezes, presses against the engine and flies! - a former poacher, and now an ordinary Astrakhan taxi driver loves speed and now, pressing on the gas of his car, deftly maneuvers between other cars on the road. “The owner yells: “Jump!”, and I: “I’d rather sit it out!” So we went twice, and then I said: no, I’m quitting, my daughter is growing up. And there were so many cases: they shot, drowned, left. Pirates, Dagestanis-Magestanis. Who is to blame, who will find you at sea?

They say that in Astrakhan every second person is a poacher. They are probably exaggerating about the city, but about the region, perhaps not: the fishing districts of Ikryaninsky, Limansky, Volodarsky and Kamyzyaksky, where almost half of the region’s population lives, are located in the lower Volga region: you left the house, set up a net - and here’s your catch. However, you shouldn’t count on sturgeon. About 20 years ago, during spawning on the Volga, one could see the carcasses of sharp-nosed fish with ripped open bellies, floating with the current. The fishermen only took out the caviar and did not bother with the meat. Now there are almost no fish.

According to the latest data from Rosrybovodstvo (for 2013), in the Russian waters of the Caspian Sea there were less than 10 million sturgeon “fed” - fish “walking” in the sea and spawning in the river: 7.4 million Russian sturgeon fish, 1.1 million sturgeon and 1.2 million beluga. Previously, they counted in thousands of tons: at the end of the 70s there were 27,400 tons of fish.

“The poachers themselves say that there are no fish,” confirms Mikhail Shevyakov, deputy head of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Astrakhan Region. - In March, we detained over a ton of sturgeon - you can’t look at the fish without tears: about thirty centimeters, these are children. Previously, they didn’t take such things, now they choose the leftovers.” Old-timers of the police still remember sturgeon from the 90s under two tons, and caviar that they tried to transport by KAMAZ trucks.

Industrial fishing of beluga was banned in 2000, Russian sturgeon and stellate sturgeon - in 2005. The talkative taxi driver, who claims that during his poaching days he went by the nickname “Elusive,” went fishing in the Caspian Sea until 2010. And in 2014, I gave up river fishing: “I caught the last sturgeon weighing 6 kg in my village. Then I decided to try myself “dry” - anything but fish,” explains the reckless driver.

Caviar instead of a hotel

In the early 2000s, a kilogram of Caspian sturgeon caviar could be bought in the markets of Astrakhan for 1,600 rubles; for 1 kg of fish they asked for 130 rubles. “The cost of our fish when we started was 230 rubles per kg,” recalls Igor Bukatov, co-owner of the Astrakhan company Aquatrade, which is now one of the top three caviar producers in the region and among the top five in the country (about 2 tons of caviar per year ).

But the transition of sturgeon to the category of exclusive dishes was obvious: there was less caviar, and fishing was prohibited. Companies for raising sturgeon in captivity have appeared in Russia, most of them have mastered the method of “milking” the fish - obtaining caviar “live” (another option, which Aquatrade also uses, is to slaughter caviar fish).

“When we invested the first money in this business, we believed that in three years we would already be driving a Porsche 911,” smiles Bukatov. He never bought a Porsche, he admits. I arrived at the restaurant to meet with a journalist in a Toyota Prado. Bukatov estimates the profitability of Aquatrade’s business in 2015 at 20%, and, seemingly jokingly, laments: “It would be better if we bought a hotel!”

Black and white

There are several dozen producers of black caviar in Russia, less than ten large ones. According to Rosrybolovstvo, last year they produced just over 43 tons of caviar, of which 6.7 tons were exported. In 2006, when fishing in the Caspian Sea was just banned, according to estimates from a representative of the Traffic program, which studies trade in biological resources in Russia, there were over 500 tons of poached black caviar on the market.

“In the 2000s there was a golden time,” the ex-poacher-taxi driver says confidentially: I had 30,000 in my pocket, like 100 rubles now. I went to visit my mother and took the most expensive sweets. Why, mom constantly saves money and buys caramels.” The taxi driver's earnings for Elusive are low, but life is calmer. The new wife is also keeping an eye on this: “Married!” is written on the mirror in the car’s interior in pink lipstick. “Jealous,” he grins.

The volume of today's black market is a mystery: the police do not count, but CITES (Convention on international trade endangered species of wild fauna) estimates it at 200 tons. However, market participants claim that the figure is much lower: approximately 25% of total sales. Consultant of the agribusiness practice of the NEO Center Consulting Group Andrey Zhikharev agrees with them.

The retail price of black caviar is growing along with the dollar, now it is 30,000-70,000 rubles per kilogram, depending on the extraction method: “slaughter” costs more, “milk” costs less. The most expensive is beluga caviar - 90,000-150,000 rubles/kg, and sterlet caviar is 30% cheaper than sturgeon.

"Inexpensive idea"

The founder of Aquatrade Fishing Company LLC, Astrakhan resident Alexey Sokolov, sold this business two years after the start. Coming from the oilfield services company Schlumberger, Sokolov and five partners registered the company in 2002. A year later, on the Bushma River near the village of the same name in the Astrakhan region, he built six fish cages with total area 150 sq. m. Having bought the first 500 kg of fry, Sokolov realized that the money had run out, and the expenses had just begun, he began to look for buyers for the asset and remembered his friend Igor Bukatov.

Bukatov and his business partner Anton Fedin were only on vacation in Astrakhan in the 2000s: they made money then by selling coking coal from Yakutia and Kuzbass; among their clients were the Federal Border Service and the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant (NLMK). The price of a promising business producing sturgeon and black caviar seemed low to them.

The first investments amounted to several million rubles. “In essence, we bought an idea for an inexpensive price that the creators did not have enough money for, thinking that it would pay off in three years,” says Fedin. At the end of 2003, he and his partner became owners of about 8% of the shares of Aquatrade between them; by mid-2005, each of them increased their share to 39.2%. Now Bukatov and Fedin have 47.4% each, and their friend Elena Pereverzeva has another 5.1%.

Sturgeons by Vladimir Lisin

The new owners of Aquatrade did not immediately realize the real price of the “inexpensive idea”. “Why are there four cages - it’s like an aquarium at the dacha! But this aquarium began to eat up a lot of money: we hadn’t sold anything yet, but we were already transferring 350-400,000 rubles a month towards salaries,” recalls Anton Fedin. Now the average salary for fishery specialists in the Astrakhan region is 12,000-15,000 per month, the minimum is from 6,000.

The next revelation for the owners of Aquatrade was the need to scale production. In 2003, the farm had 2 tons of fish. But based on the results of calculations, Fedin recalls, it turned out that for a normal business it is necessary to produce 100-150 tons, “then we will at least start earning something.”

Where can you get so many sturgeon? “Vladimir Lisin’s broodstock helped,” says Igor Bukatov. According to him, in 2003-2004, NLMK sold non-core assets, including three sturgeon production plants. “The sturgeon were about twenty kilograms, good,” recalls Bukatov. – They were transported to some kind of cardboard factory, the fish were sitting in cages 2 by 2 m, sad, scary to look at. We bought 21 kilograms of fish for 400, they became the basis of our herd.” The cost of live female sturgeon now depends on their species and age - from 10,000 rubles per kilogram.

NLMK's fish hatchery was indeed considered one of the largest industrial enterprises - by the way, the plant was a leader among metallurgists in fish production. NLMK's annual report for 2003 mentions CJSC Stalkonverst, which is engaged in fish breeding, processing and sales - NLMK had 36.8% there. In documents for 2004, the company is no longer on the list of affiliates.

The billionaire, who, without knowing it, took part in the fate of the Astrakhan company, recently received a present from it: “Lisin came to the Astrakhan region to hunt, and we found out about it and gave him a jar of caviar,” says Igor Bukatov.

Fish food

The owners of sturgeon farms do not look like tycoons at all. Petr Sabanchuk, deputy general director and co-owner of the fish trading company Raskat (ranked seven in terms of production volumes in the Russian Federation), looks more like an ordinary hard worker than a businessman: a large man of about 60 years old driving a Renault Logan with an impressive crack on the windshield. He talks confidently and almost lovingly about the intricacies of fish production:

“Beluga matures like a girl: she doesn’t show up until she’s 16, and then you give her away in marriage.”

The beluga is really ready for spawning at 15-18 years old. Sturgeon begins to produce caviar only at seven or eight years old, sterlet at 4-6 years. Until three years of age, even the sex of the fish is unclear, which is determined very humanly: by ultrasound.

“Five years after the start, Aquatrade took its first right step in business,” Anton Fedin argues self-critically, “he stopped selling all the fish, starting to separate the males from the females.” By that time, the 170-ton sturgeon herd had already been divided into caviar and commercial sturgeon - the latter contained only male sturgeon for meat.

Until 2013, Aquatrade was the leader in the sale of sturgeon meat in the south of Russia, says the company’s commercial director Sergei Bessonov: the company sold 40-50 tons per year (now 20-30 tons per year). All the money was literally eaten up by the farm: feeding sturgeon is an expensive pleasure.

The fry are generally fed like children: every two hours. For a kilogram of fry - a kilogram of feed, which is bought in Europe. “If you need to raise 1 kg of fry, you need to spend 400 rubles on food. 50% of this fry will die in the process, but it will eat the food. That is, 1 kg of fish already costs 800 rubles,” Igor Bukatov makes a simple calculation. He sold three apartments in Moscow to feed Aquatrade's growing herd. Now this herd reaches 260 tons and eats feed worth 60 million rubles a year.

Food for adult animals is already cheaper - “Raskat”, for example, buys them for 95 rubles per 1 kg. It is believed that during the season (summer) a six-year-old sturgeon gains 6-8 kg, says Olga Sabanchuk, general director of Raskat. For 1 kg of “gain” you need 3 kg of feed, which means that a season of feeding one fish like this costs 1,700-2,500 rubles. 1 kg of sturgeon in a store can be bought for 700-850 rubles.

“It was a great happiness for us that we only need to feed the fish in the warm season: in winter, sturgeon lie on the bottom and don’t need food,” says Anton Fedin. True, the owners of Aquatrade did not find out this right away. The workers argued that in winter they needed to dig holes in the cages for feeding, says Fedin. “Maybe it was more convenient for them to catch fish from us - we realized that later. But at some point I started experimenting at my dacha: it was minus 20 outside, we dug a hole, and after 15 minutes there was this layer of ice. And I began to think: “Why the hell does Aquatrade allocate money for holes?”

According to IFD Solid analyst Dmitry Lukashov, the cost of black caviar is about $350-400 per kg. Now, 14 years after the start of the business, 80% of Aquatrade’s profit is spent on salaries, infrastructure support, consumables and food, says Bukatov. Sergey Bessonov claims that the first revenue in this business comes after 10 years; investments, taking into account the cost of money over time, pay off after 12-15 years. Margins of 100% begin with 20 years of operation of the caviar herd, he expects.

“Don’t even try to start this business with less than 100-150 million rubles,” warns Bukatov. But the owner of the Russian Caviar Lux caviar distributor, Victor Kappes, who has been involved in the caviar business for about 30 years, estimates investments in cage farming for a hundred-ton sturgeon herd at $1 million, but makes a reservation: “It all depends on the volume: someone breeds sturgeon in a barrel "

“Do it beautifully!”

The initial investments of poachers are of a completely different order: “at a minimum: gear - about 50 pieces, a boat - about 50,000 rubles, a motor “thirty” (boat engine of 30 hp, - Forbes) - it costs 170,000-200,000 rubles .”, lists the ex-poacher “Elusive”.

This calculation is for single people: you won’t catch a lot of fish, but if you get caught by law enforcement officers, you won’t go to jail for long. The classification of crimes depends not on the damage and volume, but on the method of commission: if you break the law alone, the punishment will be less severe than if in a group of people. “You can eat the fish you catch and sell the caviar in the village without taking any risks - hucksters buy for 20,000 rubles. per kg,” explains the interlocutor. “At least 3-4 kg of caviar from sturgeon - that’s 80,000 rubles.”

Earnings are higher if you poach “for the owner” - a person with more serious equipment and connections - and constantly work in the Caspian Sea. You can’t just get into the sea, says a law enforcement officer who participated in catching poachers: you have to pay for entry and exit, “like in our hospitals: give it for the operation and give it to the anesthesiologist so that he can survive the anesthesia.” Usually three people go out on a boat: a driver and two fishermen. They work on a percentage basis. A successful solution is, for example, three large belugas - 50-70 kg of caviar. Such caviar costs on the black market from 30,000 rubles per kg. Then the fishermen receive 300-400,000 rubles “on the nose” from the owner.

The number of detected cases of poaching in Astrakhan has not changed over the past five years - about a thousand per year. 76 major crimes were solved in 2015, this is a third of all Russia, says Colonel Mikhail Shevyakov.

How are poachers caught? “If you go out to the Caspian Sea by boat, there will, of course, be canoes and people in them with machine guns, but by the time you get to them, there will be no machine guns, no cartridges, no fish in the boat, and even the mucus will be washed away,” Shevyakov assures . They go out to sea to find poachers at night, following a tip, knowing in advance where they will bring the caught fish to sell. A couple of times a season, shooting happens during a chase; more often they shoot from boats arriving from neighboring Dagestan, says Artem Sladkov, an employee of the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Astrakhan Region: “We shoot at the boat, at the engine. But last year we had to shoot at a man - he was firing at us with a Kalashnikov. Then he threw him into the water and claimed that there was no shooting. True, his phone was confiscated, where there was a video of the chase and shootout with behind-the-scenes comments: “Come on Vasya, make the cops look good!”

Caviar and sturgeon, which ended up from poachers' boats on the black market, are stored in refrigerators in garages, summer cottages and abandoned industrial sites. Although there are more exotic places: caviar was buried in the garden and tomatoes were planted on top, recalls Mikhail Shevyakov. He tells terrible things about the methods of poaching: supposedly, caviar is dried in the sun on cardboard, and then filled with water to swell.

The illegal delicacy goes for sale under the skin of a car, in the walls of truck bodies, in the hiding places of familiar train conductors.

“No one transports trucks: firstly, such volumes no longer exist in nature, and secondly, caviar is not butter, not everyone can afford it,” explains Shevyakov.

Delicacy wholesale and retail

InFOLIO Research Group calculated in 2012 that 1% of the Russian population can afford to eat caviar regularly. On holidays - 4%. Who are these people?

Russian caviar

For the last two years, the export of black caviar from Russia has been at the level of 6.7 tons, they say in Rosrybolovstvo. In 2001, when fishing for Russian sturgeon and seryuga in the Caspian Sea was still allowed, 41 tons went abroad. It is profitable to supply abroad: the price for 1 kg of caviar varies from $1,000 to €2,000. However, it is not easy: we have no agreement with Europe in the field of product standardization, so this market is closed for Russian aquaculture caviar. Main Buyers Russian caviar- UAE, Canada, Singapore, China, USA and Japan, there are deliveries to Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Moscow eats the most caviar. The capital and region account for 70% of sales, says Alexander Ganusov, general director of the Russian Sturgeon trading house (products of the Yaroslavsky fish hatchery, No. 2 in terms of production volume in Russia - 10 tons, according to the company). The regions eat up the remaining 30%.

The largest producer of black caviar in Russia, Diana (supplier Russian Caviar House), lists such companies as Gazprom, Rosneft, and Sberbank among its clients. The employees, hearing about this, get scared: “Well, I don’t know, we don’t eat anything like that, we don’t see caviar in our canteen.” In response to a request from Forbes, a representative of Sberbank replied that “the bank is not a corporate customer of black caviar,” and representatives of Rosneft and Gazprom declined to comment.

Judging by the government procurement website, almost no one eats black caviar in state-owned companies.

Forbes was able to discover a tender for the purchase of caviar only by Gazprom’s subsidiary, Gazprom Torgservis LLC. According to the minutes of the request for proposals published on August 3, 2015, the lot for the supply of caviar produced by Russian Caviar House LLC in the amount of 2.3 million rubles was predictably won by Russian Caviar House.

“Retail clients are very closed,” Bessonov from Aquatrade shakes his head. “Sometimes they even make a purchase not in their name.”

Caviar for the President

“No one who actually supplies caviar to the Kremlin will talk about this,” assures Igor Bukatov from Aquatrade. Ganusov from Russian Sturgeon admits that there are interesting clients in the Kremlin, but he simply doesn’t know “from which side to approach this.” “Although the “children of Lieutenant Schmidt” come regularly, boast about their administrative resources, and offer to introduce them. However, not a single such proposal has been successful,” he says. “Knowing our officials, I’ll assume that they are used to receiving caviar as a gift,” smiles another supplier.

Almost all the producers we were able to talk to tried to start supplying caviar to authorities. Only one company claims that this happened - Russian Caviar House, owned by entrepreneur Alexander Novikov. On the company’s website, visitors are greeted with the slogan: “Black caviar from the Kremlin’s supplier.” “We are suppliers to the State Duma and the Federation Council. We have very serious customers, (...) they did not order less,” TASS quoted Saodat Sultanova, deputy general director of the company, as saying in early May.

On February 19, 2015, a supply agreement was indeed concluded between Novikov’s Russian Caviar House and the Federal State Budgetary Institution Kremlevsky Food Processing Plant (Forbes found information about this posted on the government procurement website). According to the documents, Novikov’s company was supposed to supply 15 cans of black grainy sturgeon caviar “Classic” for a total amount of 103,380 rubles (2,316 rubles for 50 grams and 4,576 rubles for 100 g - quite market prices). The agreement was valid until the end of last year. It was not possible to find any other agreements.

Novikov himself did not find time in three weeks to answer questions about the “Kremlin” and “State Duma” buyers. The Kremlevsky Trade House did not respond to Forbes’ request. Deputy General Director of the Kremlevsky food processing plant, Vladimir Polishchuk, also left Forbes’ questions sent to him via Linkedin unanswered.

Hunting for a client

“Black caviar is still considered an elite product, but this is prejudice Russian man, says Alexander Ganusov. “The price of 4,000 rubles per 100 grams is comparable to the price of a bottle of good whiskey, and with these hundred grams you can treat 15 people, and if you make canapes, even more.”

Caviar is really going to the masses: according to the observations of a senior administrator of a retail outlet, “ gold fish» Vladimir Zhupinsky’s Danilovsky market, one of the main motives for buying a delicacy from Muscovites is sports nutrition: caviar contains a lot of easily digestible fats and proteins with high biological value. The second is celebrations like New Year, anniversary or wedding. “Last year in December we sold about 100 kg of black caviar, while in the summer about 10-15 kg are sold per month,” he says. According to him, caviar is also in demand among foreigners, for whom it is one of the symbols of Russian gastronomy and a good souvenir: they account for about 20% of buyers.

60% of the products from Russian Sturgeon are sold in ten metropolitan retail chains. They take caviar, despite markups: the consumer pays a retail markup (up to 50% of the cost of the product), and the supplier pays “input” - a fixed amount for each item (in the case of caviar, these are the volumes of cans) and “bonus money” - 10- 15% of the delivery price, says Ganusov. About 15% of deliveries to retail chains go for disposal, since in the event of customer complaints about quality, stores simply return the goods to suppliers. “At the same time, I can complain that my product is on the display at the wrong temperature, but the category manager will simply answer: “It’s more convenient for us,” says Ganusov. According to him, supply costs are recovered only in the third year of operation.

The next largest wholesalers (wholesale starts from 5 kg) are restaurants and resellers, they account for 15% of sales, says Ganusov. “I wouldn’t say that the restaurant public especially highlights caviar on the menu, but there are connoisseurs, especially among foreigners, for whom it is a completely obvious pairing with sparkling wine,” notes the famous restaurateur Nikolai Bakunov. “It shows wealth and upbringing.” The menu of his restaurants includes, for example, such dishes with caviar as “Nanny from guinea fowl”, “Hake with eggplant and black caviar”, “Sterlet with kaymak with black caviar”.

Restaurants are capricious clients: chefs have different tastes, but the market is moving towards competing not on products, but on service, says Maxim Mikhailets, managing partner of the Caspian Gold brand. The Rzhev Sturgeon Complex, which represents the brand, slaughters fish and salts caviar to customers’ orders, varying the percentage of salt, maturation time and preservative. “There is an option for aged caviar - it is stored in a special jar for six months, oxidizing a little - this is what the French like, for example,” says Mikhailets. “And the Russian consumer prefers fresh.” “Good caviar has a fresh, buttery taste, with a distinct hint of pure saltiness.” sea water“, restaurateur Bakunov describes the desired product.

“Back in 2012, when I opened my company, you could take a buyer with your bare hands, there were no sellers on the market,” says Victor Kappes from Russian Caviar Lux nostalgically. Nowadays you can’t go to a client with your bare hands. Sellers divide buyers into those who understand the product and those who don’t: the latter care about the low price, and the picky ones care about the approach, says Bessonov: “They call at the same time every year and say: “I need 5 kg of caviar for the holiday.” at 2 a.m. at such and such an address.” And try not to bring it. This is our buyer."

Has the crisis affected the caviar market? “Very,” admits the category manager of the “Fish and Seafood” direction at Moscow’s La maree, Sergei Skripnik: due to falling sales of his reseller company “Caviar Empire,” he returned to the restaurant as an employee. “At the peak of sales, in November-December 2013, we sold 400 kg of caviar, and exactly a year later - ten times less,” he explains. Now, according to Skripnik, his company’s sales are at 15-20 kg per month.

However, there are those who do not skimp on caviar. Bukatov from Aquatrade spoke about a client who recently ordered sturgeon to Lipetsk with delivery to the river bank: there was a family holiday, they wanted to make five-minute caviar. The purchase cost 123,000 rubles. But the children at the holiday felt sorry for the fish and had to be pardoned. After taking a souvenir photo, the captive-bred sturgeon was released into the river and let him swim. Sturgeon is now a pleasure, although expensive, but legal. You can buy more.

Red and black caviar are a national treasure, a brand, the best Russian souvenir. This noble product is a symbol of culinary tradition, a legend among national delicacies, and has a balanced, unique composition. Previously, it was served at social events, but now the delicacy is available to most buyers. Red varieties in Russia are mined mainly in the Far East, black varieties are grown in fish farms. black caviar forms a culture of product consumption and helps in the revival of wild sturgeon populations.

Mining locations

There are several sturgeon farming enterprises in the Russian Federation. Running water is used and the fish are placed in special cages. Specialists carefully monitor the condition, health of the breeds, and the conditions of their maintenance. The high cost of the delicacy is explained by the difficulty of obtaining it - the female needs 7-10 years to mature. Hormonal stimulation is unacceptable due to the negative impact on the quality of the product. Red caviar from the manufacturer comes mainly with Far East. Varieties - coho salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon, Pacific salmon. The main production regions are Sakhalin Island, Kamchatka, and the Bering and Okhotsk seas. For catching, fixed seines, nets, trawls and other gear are used. The mining season lasts from June to October.

Production rules

Black caviar is much more expensive than red caviar; its production is carried out strictly in accordance with the standards adopted at the legislative level.

At the moment, catching sturgeon for the purpose of obtaining a delicacy is prohibited, since a sharp decline in the population began in the 90s of the last century. Industrial fishing has dealt a blow to the ecosystem, which now takes decades to recover. Black varieties are produced only in specialized fish farms.

Red caviar is a more widely consumed product, but also very valuable and useful. It is used in the preparation of various dishes and for decorating holiday tables. A quality product has bright shade, subtle characteristic aroma (it should not be sharp), dense granular texture. The eggs float in a watery sediment that increases their shelf life - jus. Juice should not account for more than 5% of the total volume of the product.

Manufacturers

"Russian Caviar House" - the largest aquatic farm in the Russian Federation with an impressive population of sturgeon. The brand carefully monitors the quality of its products; the fish is grown in the Vologda region in close to natural conditions.
"Roll" is an Astrakhan fishery that has been growing fish in cages and producing high-quality black caviar since 2007.
"Yaroslavsky" (this is the Gorkunov brand) - a large sturgeon fish factory. The fish are grown strictly in closed systems. Caviar is obtained using the slaughter method; practically no salt is used for preservation.
Rzhev fish-breeding complex (TM “Caspian Gold”) known for its tasty and high-quality lightly salted slaughter product. The company's delicacies appeared on the market in 2014, but have already gained popularity. Most series are not pasteurized and therefore require delicate storage.
Volgorechenskoyefarming is the oldest company in its industry, founded in 1974. To obtain the delicacy, the milking method is used, the final product contains a minimum of salt, and there are no preservatives at all. Strict veterinary control is guaranteed.

Legal production of leading caviar houses guarantees transparency of production and sales structures. Supporting documentation is provided.