The Aran Valley, a Pyrenean valley with its own personality for having been isolated for many years, hides two real treasures. None other than the considerate 'black gold' of gastronomy: the caviar. Its elaboration can be learned, as well as seeing closely the sturgeon. Also there is the only cheese factory from the area that reveals the secrets of the star product.
Some families continue to make cheese at home. In general, the caviar Nacarii and cheese Tarrau are the only two food companies in the valley. Both blend their flavors with a combination or mixture of the two products into a whole.
The Aran Valley is cheese and caviar
En the Aran Valley two river basins concur, one towards the Atlantic with the Garonne river and another towards him Mediterranean coast with the Noguera Pallaresa river. A group of energy, Neolectra, specialized in waste management, decided to buy a power plant there. To take advantage of the hot water that emerged from the plant, it occurred to them to introduce something into the pools.
First they were trout, after perch and finally sturgeon. It was 1998, when the wild caviar, which was banned in 2008. The sturgeon has a long cycle of 10 years and the sturgeon is extracted from its roe. caviar. This made the entry into the market of Nacarii Caviar coincided with the outlawing of the savage.
Nacarii Caviar
It is a fish farm small in which three people carry out the entire process until packaging, in an artisanal way. They have a limited production of 800 kilos a year caviar. Of these, 60% go to export, mainly to Europe. Nacarii Caviar has been awarded a Golden Star and in the 2013 edition and two in the 2015 edition of the Superior Taste Award.
"Wild caviar no longer exists. Today the difference between a good one and a not good one is not that it is Iranian or Russian. But the quality of the water and the pampering of the sturgeon, the space and their food ”, he tells us Blanca Ohlsson, director of Nacarii Caviar.
The fish farm is 8 kilometers from the source of the Garonne river and in crystalline waters from the thaw. The sturgeon are fed only with I think organic (vegetables and dried prawns).
Of the 26 species of sturgeon, the best known is the Spindle Spindle, which produces the famous beluga caviar, which is the one that produces the largest roe. Its quality is measured by the roe size. Nacarii Caviar chose the sturgeon Baer, originally from the lake Baikal, in Siberia, also known as Siberian. Its roe is considered one of the best in purity of flavor.
The sturgeon one of the oldest animals on Earth
The sturgeon is like the salmon, a sea fish that goes up the river to disobey. When coming from the sturgeon Baer lake, does not miss the sea, so it facilitates its farming. Because the sturgeon in the wild It is a species on the brink of extinction, the only alternative has been to breed under control. Nacarii Caviar buys 12.000 sturgeon fingerlings every year, which they receive when they are two months old.
La tour there it takes place all year round except the production months (April, May, October and November). Lets know the sturgeon cycle, its morphology and preparation of caviar. As well as taste it. The 250-million-year-old sturgeon is next to the lamprey one of the first animals on earth.
Ten years to extract caviar from female sturgeon
The sturgeon they are asexual until they are four years old, the age at which they are sexed with a biopsy or ultrasound. So you know if they are male or female. They are then separated between the males, from which the meat is obtained Nacarii Caviar it also markets. And the female, who gives caviar once in his life, for which we have to wait another six or eight more years for it to reach sexual maturity. Then, they generate their roe, the precious black diamonds.
El caviar It only has salt, so it is about opening the fish and adding salt using the method bad sun ("Slightly salty", in Russian). In Nacarii distinguish between fresh and ripe caviar, according to the time it has matured in salt.
It has a shelf life of one year from when it is extracted and when it is in the can it has a six month expiration. It should be kept at a temperature between -3º and + 3º, which is what corresponds to the lower part of the fridge. A good caviar marry a dry drink, either the vodka, white wine, cava or champagne.
Caviar in France
The culture of caviar in France It is because this food was introduced there by the tsars who emigrated from the Russian revolution. The Gauls tasted it with champagne and it is said that the tsars have not taken it with vodka since then.
La sturgeon meat, unknown in contemporary cuisine, is marketed so much fresh as frozen, and also the smoke. In the Aran Valley fresh sturgeon meat is sold a lot and - he tells us White- There is increasing interest among cooks from outside the area.
This fish from White meat has a long tradition in Countries Baltic. It has a texture like that of swordfish and more Omega 3 than salmon.
Tarrau cheeses, the only cheese factory in the Aran Valley
Between that high mountain landscape in the Aran Valley we arrived between pines, firs and beech trees to the highest cheese factory of the Pyrenees. Es Tarrau cheeses, riding a Baguergue, located at 1.419 meters of altitude. The main advantage of their situation is that the higher the cheeses they mature better.
This family made cheese at home like many of the Valle de Aran that continue to manufacture it today. In the past, cheese served as barter and was often traded for wheat in the lower valley. The Tarrau They found writings from the XNUMXth century at home that attested to the types of cheeses they made. Jose Antonio Tarrau and his brother, winter ski instructors, decided in 2008 to open the it would.
They make cheese in spring and fall and, to this day, it is still the only one in the valley. "People kept asking for cheeses at home and we thought we had to jump in," he says. José Antonio. The visits -which are carried out when there is no production- allow us to contemplate the spectacular cave through some glass. It is natural stone used for maturation of cheeses.
All cheeses are made with raw cow's milk from the 38 cows that Tarrau they have on two farms France. "I am the only Spanish cheesemaker who goes to France, but I have it 20 minutes away," he says. The reason is the height, because at 1.500 meters he would have to keep the cows locked up for eight months and in the neighboring country they are 300 meters away. Also, it doesn't snow.
A cheese made with Nacarii caviar
When working with raw milk, all cheeses need a maturation of more than three months. The cheeses are sold in the cheese factory itself and in the Aran Valley. As well as through Internet. Has a total of six types of cheeses. For traditional uses veal rennet and for the rest, Thistle.
There is also a cheese with rum and cognac (The language), The azul and even one filled with the Nacarii caviar: el Blaquet Nacarii. The fusion of these products in an exceptional landscape invites us to open ourselves more than to the taste still authentic pleasure.
