HOW IT’S MADE – FARMED CAVIAR
Caviar is term for salted eggs of the sturgeon fish up early delicacy they’ve long been the snack food have the privileged enjoyed for centuries by roman emperors, saudi sheikh, russian czar, and english king. A few nipples still offer taste in the high life. Caviar is sometimes called black gold. No wonder a teaspoon of fish egg costs more than a meal at some family restaurant. For most of us a little caviar is a big splurge.
Overfishing has depleted wild siberian sturgeon stock, so at this hatchery in the southern united states they farm the species for their eggs and flash. They feed the young fish high protein pellets. The juvenile sturgeon fish need constant nourishment to develop. A computerized system dispenses feed every four minutes. As the fish grow larger the feeding schedule ratchet down a bit.
The fish produce tiny metabolites that are toxic to them. Those are filtered out by bacteria introduced for this purpose. Stuff routinely test the tank water to ensure the bacteria are doing their job adequately. After a few month of growth, they transfer the fish to larger tank. Here mesh drums filter the solid waste they produce. Pounds constantly circulate the water to move it trough plastic nuggets, the house of all important filtering bacteria. Circulating the water also disperses carbon dioxide gas emitted by the fish and introduce oxygen which they need to survive and thrive. Ordinary molasses injected into the tank is consumed by the beneficial bacteria helping them to process the harmful metabolites produced by the fish.
After five to seven years of growth, the fish are at least a meter in length and they should be full of eggs. Worker transfer them to tabs and mixin a gas to put the fish to sleep. Now sedated the fish can be more easily handled undertaken to the ultrasound station. Using high frequency sound waves they probes the sturgeon ovaries. This gives them a clear picture of her eggs production. She should contain ten of thousand of eggs. If not she’ll go back in to the tank to mature some more. But is she’s ready, they’ll harvest the ovaries.
They clean the eggs and ovaries and transfer them by the bagful to a child room with filtered air. This is just one of the siberian sturgeon to ovaries and its massive row fish eggs that are about to become pure caviar. They extremely fragile and need careful handling to separate them from the membrane. This worker gently rubs the eggs against the mesh screen. She sets the tissue aside for composting and lift the screen revealing the thousand of delegated sturgeon eggs. But this caviar isn’t quite ready yet. She now rinses the eggs repeatedly with cold water to wash away any impurities like bit of broken eggs and tissue residue. Using tweezers she pick out remaining specs and membrane and crushed egg gremlin until what’s left is pure and perfect.
She pour the eggs into a fine mesh colander, the volume decreases as the water drains of. She weighs the drained caviar and season it with salt measuring an amount that’s about three an a half percent of the caviar weight. This precise salting maximize the caviar flavour and substantially improves shelf life. She puts the eggs on ice for about six minutes to absorb the salt. The salt grossed more moisture so she drains it one more time. A worker bloks up remaining moisture with highly absorbent paper towel. Another worker pulls away the towel gently leaving the pearls of caviar intack. she packs it into a lacquer lined tin and presses down the cluster of eggs to eliminate any air pockets which would cause oxidation and spoilage. She seal the tin with a thick band of rubber. This caviar has been many years in the making. Farm produce, no wild fish were destroyed to get this eggs market and thats mean they should appeal to growing appetite for something a little more sustainable.
Question:
1. Describe how to maintain water quality
2. Explain how to decide that the fish is ready for harvest
3. Explain how to produce caviar
Answer:
1. To maintain water quality use the bacteria. Stuff routinely test the tank water to ensure the bacteria are doing their job adequately. After a few month of growth, they transfer the fish to larger tank. Using mesh drums to filter the solid waste they produce. Pounds constantly circulate the water to move it trough plastic nuggets, the house of all important filtering bacteria. Circulating the water also disperses carbon dioxide gas emitted by the fish and introduce oxygen which they need to survive and thrive. Ordinary molasses injected into the tank is consumed by the beneficial bacteria helping them to process the harmful metabolites produced by the fish
.
2. The workers using high frequency sound waves they probes the sturgeon ovaries. This gives them a clear picture of her eggs production. The fish should contain ten of thousand of eggs. If not she’ll go back in to the tank to mature some more. But is she’s ready, they’ll harvest the ovaries.
3. The eggs gently rubs the eggs against the mesh screen. Then rinses the eggs repeatedly with cold water to wash away any impurities like bit of broken eggs and tissue residue. Using tweezers, pick out remaining specs and membrane and crushed egg gremlin until what’s left is pure and perfect. Pour the eggs into a fine mesh colander. weighs the drained caviar and season it with salt measuring an amount that’s about three an a half percent of the caviar weight. This precise salting maximize the caviar flavour and substantially improves shelf life. Put the eggs on ice for about six minutes to absorb the salt. The salt grossed more moisture so she drains it one more time. Bloks up remaining moisture with highly absorbent paper towel. Then pulls away the towel gently leaving the pearls of caviar intack. Packs it into a lacquer lined tin and presses down the cluster of eggs to eliminate any air pockets which would cause oxidation and spoilage. Seal the tin with a thick band of rubber. This caviar has been many years in the making. Farm produce, no wild fish were destroyed to get this eggs market and thats mean they should appeal to growing appetite for something a little more sustainable.
