where does your caviar come from?

Here at Pearl Street, we value authenticity in our both our practices and our relationship with our customers. In honor of these values, over the next few months we'll be sharing more details about our relationships with our partner farms, so you know where and how we choose the farmers who produce the caviar you know. 

Sturgeon aquaculture began as a response to overfishing and disruption of the industry during the fall of the Soviet Union. Given the one to two decades that it takes sturgeon to reproduce, most farms have only been operating for a generation or two. The quality of farmed caviar has been steadily improving over the last decade, but there is much more for us to learn; this passion for continued discovery is something we value greatly in our partner farms. At each new farm we work with, we begin our relationship by visiting their farm and harvesting caviar with them, learning their process and ensuring it aligns with our standards. 

Next up: Double Jiro. This farm is located in an arid wine region that could be part of one of two countries, depending on who you ask. We don’t share much common language, but both have a passion for good caviar, produced in the way the Tsar would have liked it most. Lunch with the farmers includes cognac and regional wines.

The farmers have been producing caviar since 2004, and are on their third caviar-yielding generation of sturgeon. The water that feeds the farm is sourced from the Dnister River about 50 miles before the river empties into the Black Sea. After years of testing, the farmers discovered that by harvesting later in the gestation period, they can produce a more robust pearl that stands up well to heat, setting it apart from other younger caviars that have a less established membrane.

Additionally, this farm prioritizes curating a natural environment for the sturgeon that goes beyond the water. The farm intermingles the Ossetra with Baerii and Beluga sturgeon creating a balanced farm environment, similar to what the fish would find in the wild. The historic importance of caviar in the region creates a depth of passion for the product that is difficult to find elsewhere. The farm primarily sells to native Russians in surrounding countries.

As another Gueldenstaedtii product, Double Jiro is native to the northern half of the Caspian Sea. It stands out visually with a pronounced tiger’s eye pattern- the primary grey is the same as Beluga caviar, but carries a contrasting black as well.