Sturgeon and caviar tastings, classes and tours offer a true taste of the Maritimes
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By Adam Waxman
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When traveling abroad, we’re often asked, “What do you eat in Canada?” Canadian cuisine is not always recipe-driven; it is more often ingredient-driven. Canada is a cornucopia of high-quality ingredients, and depending on the province, that base changes significantly.
New Brunswick is not only the “French Fry Capital of the World,” as well as one of the largest producers of molasses, but when we zoom in a little further, we discover the real pearl in the shell. Atlantic provinces are renowned for their seafood, but New Brunswick is home to the only producer of local, sustainable, wild sturgeon in the world.
Unique experiences immerse visitors into a true taste of the Maritimes. The Sturgeon Safari offers groups to boat-out to see wild sturgeon in their own habitat, learn what sustainable fishing actually looks like, and work with sturgeon fishermen on their harvest. The Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Master Class is ahigh-end multi-course sturgeon and caviar dining experience in which each dish focuses on sturgeon or caviar in a variety of global cuisines from Japanese to French. It pairs local, wild and farmed sturgeon, side by side and includes caviar bumps with champagne and sake. Sturgeon and caviar tasting experiences consist of at least seven unique courses served with their story and education about food production, sustainability, information about how to serve caviar and sturgeon, local drinks pairings and visiting the hatchery.
A two-day “Cooking for Education” experience includes a local New Brunswick chef who shares how to cook, enjoy and pair sturgeon and caviar with dishes ranging from Sturcuterie boards (three types of sturgeon charcuterie) to Sturgeon Wellington and Sturchetta—sturgeon made porchetta-style, and desserts like white chocolate panna cotta with caviar, or even smoked sturgeon ice cream with caviar. For those under the false impression that they have tasted everything Canadian, the miso-marinated wild sturgeon with birch syrup-marinated farmed sturgeon and lemon-seared wagyu beef is a luscious awakening. We cannot do this anywhere else in the world!
There is no more wild-caught sturgeon caviar anywhere in the world outside of Canada. There is none in the Caspian Sea or the Black Sea. None in Iran. None in Russia. None in France. Nowhere. What we find in specialty food shops is farmed, and there can be issues with transparency and with traceability. Canadian product, native to the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean and sustainably fished in St. John River, is one in which stringent controls keep us confidently informed.
There are three types of caviar at New Brunswick’s Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar, and from two different species: one is wild, and two are farmed in protective natural environments. Atlantic Sturgeon is the only wild caviar harvested in the world, and Shortnose Sturgeon is a rare genetic species of sturgeon.
Sustainable practices are integral for to maintain the population of wild Canadian sturgeon. That means not only caring for existing fish and their existing environment, but giving back to it, to nourish and replenish positive growth. Even if we’re purchasing sustainable products internationally, there is a big carbon footprint in their transport.
Wild sturgeon must be thirty years old, before it’s fished. Farming takes a minimum of ten years, and the water must be clean, cold, well nutriated and oxygenated. The farmed environment must by clean and provide the same life as the wild environment, and has to respect the same temperature cycles, and sleep cycles (dormancy phase.) It’s about quality over quantity.
You can’t rush nature. “Let nature and time do its thing. We don’t interfere or push,” shares founder and owner of Acadian Sturgeon Caviar, Cornel Ceapa. “Aquaculture has to respect the fish and their environment. If they are farmed in an environment where they are not traditionally native, that is not a good thing. Not only will they not taste the same as the wild variety, but they may also spread disease. Happy fish yield amazing and healthy products.” For Ceapa, flavour is what matters, because that is the indicator of nutrition and quality, and it is from this that we get the wow factor. “We are producing the most unique, cleanest and best sturgeon caviar in the world,” he enthuses.
It’s been 20 years of caviar, since Cornel and Donna Ceapa established Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar in New Brunswick in 2005. Together they have revived the caviar industry, and with these beautiful pearls of caviar, their sustainable product and amazing year-round food experiences have fueled a new form of aqua and agro-tourism in New Brunswick that is catching the attention of the world.