Fancy some affordable and eco-friendly caviar?

Innovative farm: Tyutin checking the sturgeon fish at the farm in Hua Hin.— AFP

AT his upmarket Bangkok restaurant, Michelin-starred chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn spoons black caviar onto a plate, adding the newly affordable Thailand-made delicacy to his reinterpreted traditional family recipes.

The luxury food, better associated with chilly northern nations, is breaking into the South-East Asian country’s fine-dining scene, with the 37-year-old celebrity cook able to economically serve the roe thanks to an innovative farm outside the capital.

Using high-tech harvesting methods, a Thai-Russian partnership is offering a more ethical and affordable product, sparing the endangered fish that provide the delicacy from their usual fate of death.

“The price is more affordable, I would say, compared to the ones that we imported,” Ton explained, as he sprinkled caviar over Thai dip lhon pu at his restaurant Lahnyai Nusara.

Using caviar also helps challenge perceptions that Thai cuisine must always be spicy with strong flavours, he added.

“I think it’s opened many doors for many chefs,” he said.

Roughly 200km away at the popular seaside resort town of Hua Hin, it is time to harvest “black gold” at the Thai Sturgeon Farm, which supplies local distributor Caviar House.

Ton making a dish using caviar.

Hundreds of the giant fish swim in tanks kept at a balmy 21°C – a world away from the chilly Caspian Sea where the species live in the wild.“No one else has this kind of farm in a tropical climate,” the farm’s co-owner Alexey Tyutin said.

The fish – considered living dinosaurs – can survive for up to 100 years and typically grow to 4m long.

Traditionally caviar producers kill the female fish to extract the eggs, but Tyutin’s farm “milks” the sturgeon.

Using the fish for as long as possible helps make the venture sustainable and profitable, Tyutin, 55, said.

During harvesting, fish are moved to the “winter room”, initially set at 6°C and increased to 15°C, before their eggs are extracted.

“Let’s say if the fish weighs 25kg, we usually expect about 2.7kg of caviar,” Tyutin said, adding that the farm estimates it may produce up to two tonnes this year.

Breeding sturgeons in a simulated environment requires vast amounts of energy – despite the use of solar panels, the monthly electricity bill is almost US$9,000 (RM38,110).

“We are chilling down the water as the water temperature outside is 31°C. These fish can’t tolerate it and will die immediately,” Tyutin said.

Thailand’s tropical climate has given the business a competitive advantage as the higher water temperature helps sturgeons mature at six years old compared to 11 in Russia. — AFP