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The

production of beluga caviar

is not a business for the impatient. Only after 14 to 16 years is the sex of sturgeons known. And females don't reach maturity until they are 21 or 25 years old. This is when caviar can be extracted. These data did not daunt Carlos Cadenas and his partner Antonio Romero when in 2019 they decided to acquire

Caviar Riofrío,

a company founded by the Navarrese doctor Luis Domezain in the Granada town of

Loja

back in 1963. We entered it on World Caviar Day , which is celebrated on July 18.

The original fish farm that runs through the municipality became famous in the 70s and 80s for trout farming, although Domezain did not take long to incorporate sturgeon specimens: Loja is at a similar latitude south of

the Caspian Sea

and, as in Iran , the waters are born in mountains over 3,000 meters high, are free of pesticides and maintain a constant temperature (between 14ºC and 15ºC).

WORLD'S FIRST ECOLOGICAL CAVIAR

A tragic flood in September 2018 covered one of the fish farms in mud and in just a few minutes more than 11,000 sturgeons died.

It was then that Cadenas and Romero (who would pass away in 2020) entered the scene to take control of the company.

The objective?

Recover the spirit of the firm around traceability and the Spanish origin of what is the

first organic caviar in the world.

Carlos Cadenas, president of Riofrío, with a sample of organic caviar.

With an investment that exceeds two million euros, Cadenas has rebuilt the fish farm respecting the natural environment and currently has more than

one hundred thousand specimens of sturgeon

of the three most appreciated varieties (

naccarii

,

gueldenstaedtii

or osetra and the coveted beluga) , under the careful supervision of four biologists (three Russian and one Spanish).

So much effort paid off last Christmas, when the company sold its first production of organic and beluga caviar.

"It was exceptional because the caliber of the roe reached 3.5 millimeters compared to the usual 2.8. The kilo of this limited production reached

8,000 euros,

" says Carlos Portela, grandson of Dr. Domezain and current director of Riofrío.

And although the organic recipe is the most demanded, they also make

traditional ones

(Russian and Iranian) in addition to marketing derivatives of caviar and sturgeon meat.

SWIM AMONG STURGEONS

But Riofrío's work goes further.

On the one hand, they have set out to demolish the myths surrounding caviar.

According to

David Montalbán

, commercial director of Caviar Riofrío, "not all that is sold as such is caviar, much less is it beluga. There are scientific and economic reasons to doubt this overabundance. There is misinformation and a

lack of transparency,

" he says. resounding before pointing out that "70% of the caviar consumed today in the world has its origin in fish farms in China. It is not Russian, not Iranian and of course it is not wild."

Sturgeons in the Loja fish farm founded by Dr. Domezain.

On the other hand, the Cadenas company offers a whole series of

unique

experiences

, from swimming in one of its rafts with sturgeons to drinking freshly extracted caviar.

You can also make tastings and visits to the fish farm, taste a country

lunch

with sturgeon meat or reserve a menu prepared live by

chef Diego Gallegos

(from the Sollo restaurant, with a Michelin star).

In September you can practice sturgeon sport fishing.

In the company's commitment to

sustainable tourism,

next September they will launch a

sport fishing

experience

for sturgeons that, once captured without suffering, will return to their habitat.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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