Sunday, June 16, 2013

Snap goes the lid, Crackle goes the toast and Pop goes the caviar

It is good to go out with a bang, or in this case, a buttery pop.



Let me preface this with a little history. Last year was a year of change. I finally finished going to school, got an office job (weird!) and we had to adjust to me working full time. Whew.

Well, this year is going to be another year of change, with G finally able to take a year off. His last story of the year will go to air Tuesday. Every story that takes him out of town has a ripple effect around here. Well, this one had few ripples and a unexpected bonus!

Caviar!

Yes, it is being served with white toast. Yes, we are eating bread again, but not so much. (In case you are wondering, our no white food diet was a success and we liked it...it just takes a bit of work in terms of organizing groceries, and our kids didn't like it)

Back to the caviar. It comes from a sturgeon farm on the Sunshine Coast, called Northern Divine. The place has been breeding white sturgeon from the Fraser River for about 10 years. It is a sustainable source of caviar that does not effect the endangered sturgeon in the Fraser (which is a good thing since we have been taking part in tagging sturgeon for research and protection - see below)

I cannot compare it to Russian caviar, for those of you well versed in these things, because it has been over a dozen years since I had any. Comparisons can be so boring anyway. That said, this caviar has a lovely buttery flavour, with a soft taste reminiscent of the sea. It also had a gentle pop to it. It was good on toast, but my favourite way of eating it is with blini, creme fraiche, and perhaps a snippet of garden fresh chive.

We have one more jar to eat before long, and you can be sure I'll be flippin' blini for that!

Sturgeon tagging - his one was 6 feet long!
A juvenile - both of them!