The sturgeon are still juvenile but in good health, growing fast and when old enough will be able to produce high value caviar destined for the Algarve’s top level restaurants.
Ten top chefs recently visited Caviar Portugal which is well on the way to producing caviar, certainly an Algarve first.
"Chefs from renowned restaurants were on tour through the Algarve to visit different producers. They decided to come here to see what we were doing with our sturgeons,' according to one of the promoters of Caviar Portugal, Paulo Pedro.
"The chefs wanted to know the whole production process and how were we thinking of taking the business forward, what types we were going to produce and on what business terms. They thought it was very interesting and were not expecting to find an idea like this, here in the Algarve. Most had not heard of the project," said Pedro.
The caviar will not be ready to harvest for a while, since the growing of sturgeon in a controlled environment and the eventual extraction of their eggs - the caviar - is a long-term process. It will take a few years until these juveniles grow enough to mate at which point the eggs can be harvested.
The embryonic business needs space and equipment, a further €3 million is sought from investors. The high price of the eventual product should attract attention as the current cost of a kilo is around 1,000 US dollars.
"There are 25 species of sturgeon, most of them are endangered, but they can be found in North America growing naturally. However in Europe the fish is threatened. The great majority of the caviar that is found today comes from aquaculture," according to Pedro.
The Caviar Portugal project has been developed under the wing of the University of the Algarve as it won the 'Ideas in Box' competition sponsored by the technology transfer division of the University which helpfully has provided space to incubate both the fish and the company.
