Grödig (Austria) (AFP)

Stefan Astner inspects in waders at the foot of a magnificent alpine setting of the extremely rare albino sturgeons, whose caviar at astronomical cost is shipped around the world for New Year's Eve.

"The fish have already passed the ultrasound so that we can see if they are full and they will enter the production phase soon", explains this employee's cap screwed on the head.

He works in Grödig, a village near Salzburg, Austria, where females grow gold eggs in fish farms.

In the workshop, the boss Walter Grüll delicately cuts the flesh of one of them, aged 16, to extract a surprisingly cream-colored caviar.

"It's even sweeter, even smoother than the traditionally black one," he says, washing his crop.

The latter weighs only 600 grams and is worth ... 8,000 euros.

This is three times more than black caviar, already considered a luxury product.

"These eggs are among the most expensive foods in the world. They represent only 1% of our total caviar production", states Walter Grüll.

- Silverware -

In a room next door, her daughter Alexandra is preparing around forty refrigerated packages.

"It leaves for Germany, Italy, Spain", she explains, her nose on the order forms.

The coronavirus crisis has certainly had an effect on demand: the starred restaurants are waiting for better days, the palaces are closed.

But retail is booming.

Even if it means staying at home, you might as well bring out the silverware and the dishes that go with it ...

"People want to savor the present moment," says the breeder, responding to the incessant phone calls that punctuate his days.

The end-of-year celebrations represent nearly 40% of its annual turnover.

The names of the clients will not be revealed, discretion is a guarantee of success in this sector.

Many of them are located in Asia, Russia and the Middle East.

A famous premium car brand has just called and recently the house received an offer from an airline wishing to offer its premium customers "Made in Austria" caviar.

Walter Grüll, who humbly started in 1981 with char and trout, wanted to stand out from the world supply by breeding these immaculate sturgeons in captivity, characterized by a total absence of pigmentation.

It now has several hundred fish protected by cameras and padlocked gates in a wooded park near Hellbrunn Castle, a Renaissance gem.

Because this precious commodity attracts envy: several thefts have taken place in recent years in other operations.

The quality of their eggs, also melanin-free, owes a lot to the crystalline pools in which they evolve.

The purity of the water from the peaks is, for example, perfectly suited to the Danube sturgeon, one of the smallest of the species.

- From the time of the dinosaurs -

This “local exoticism” approach is in tune with the times, with climate change encouraging more attentive consumers to bring products closer to their plates.

More broadly, the farming of black or white sturgeon, which has developed for a quarter of a century mainly in China, Italy and France following the ban on fishing, is also part of a desire conservation.

This species can live up to 120 years, present on earth in the time of the dinosaurs, is on the verge of extinction in its natural environment in Russia or Iran.

Global production from wild sturgeon collapsed in the 1980s due to overfishing and pollution.

According to the latest statistics available from the World Sturgeon Conservation Society as of 2018, 2,480 farms in 55 countries produce 415 tonnes of caviar per year.

Only 30 to 40 of them, including two or three in Austria, offer white, estimates the academic Thomas Friedrich, who coordinates in Vienna a program to strengthen the sturgeon populations of the Danube.

When by a miracle an albino reached adulthood in the wild and ended up fished in the Caspian Sea, he says, his white eggs were reserved exclusively for the Shah of Iran.

© 2020 AFP