Royal Belgian Osetra Caviar from Turnhout, Belgium

Acipenser Gueldenstaedtii

This farm is 100% vertically integrated and extremely dedicated to sustainable farming practices. They produce their own feed, breed their own sturgeon stocks in a hatchery run on 100% solar energy, tending to the entire process from egg to the final cured kilo. They also recycle and filter 97% of their total water consumption into pure water, with the remaining 3% used in local agriculture.

Royal Belgian was founded by Flor Joosen in 2002 which at the time, made them the first and only Belgian caviar producers on the market! Farming has always been a part of Flor's DNA, having started his career in cattle farming and spending over 10 years learning the art and science of Sturgeon farming before starting his own operation. Royal Belgian's approach to caviar is to produce a product that is as close to the experience of a wild osetra as possible. Rooted in simplicity and tradition with the belief that time-tested processes don't need to be messed with.

OK, let's start at the beginning. We're in the Royal Belgian sturgeon hatchery. Belgian Barry White is playing on the radio, the lights are dimmed. The hatchery crew take unfertilized eggs from female sturgeon and combine them with sperm from the male sturgeon in a bowl. Using a feather [because in the wild eggs are naturally very sticky so they can stick to rocks and such in rivers], stir the eggs to activate the fertilization process. The feather is softer and less "sticky" than a paddle or spoon, resulting in less damage to the eggs. Wild!

The sturgeon are then raised in bucolic outdoor ponds until they reach at least 9-10 years of age, at which point ultrasound is used to determine egg readiness before harvest.

Consuming this product can expose you to chemicals including lead, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.