Sturgeon ponds in a mountain valley, a snow-capped peak in the clouds behind

Where it comes from

Snowmelt, mountains and time

Our Imperial Ossetra is raised on sturgeon farms in Sichuan, China, in water that runs down from the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. This is where every tin starts.

13,000 ft: where the river’s sources begin
50°F: spring water in the ponds
11 farms: and one processing center
No wild fish: every sturgeon hatched on the farm

Long sturgeon raceways after snowfall, frosted forest reflected in the still water

The water

The farms sit on the upper reaches of the Qingyi River in Ya’an, where streams fall from sources above 13,000 feet. Snowmelt and mountain springs run through the ponds day and night, cold and rich in oxygen: about 50°F in early spring and rarely above 73°F in summer.

In early 2019, China’s environment ministry ranked Ya’an’s rivers first in the country for water quality.

Aerial view of a sturgeon farm beside a turquoise river, its raceways laid out in rows

The farms

Our farmer has raised sturgeon in these valleys since 2007 and now runs eleven farms, with two more being built. The fish live in flow-through raceways fed by the river, and the water leaving the ponds is treated before it goes back. Feeding, oxygen and water quality are monitored around the clock.

In 2022 the main farm park was named a national demonstration zone for healthy, ecological aquaculture.

Rows of raceways running along a green river valley

Hatched here, never caught

Wild sturgeon are endangered, and no wild fish go into our caviar. Every sturgeon is hatched on the farms and grown from fingerling to adult over many years, moving to larger ponds as it grows.

A female isn’t harvested the first time she carries eggs. The farm waits until she has absorbed them naturally and carries again. The fish is a hybrid of two Amur River sturgeons: Huso dauricus × Acipenser schrenckii.

Young sturgeon swimming in a shallow nursery pond

A sturgeon sliding down a chute into a new pond

The farm’s processing center at the foot of a forested hill

Packed at the source

The roe is prepared in the farm’s own processing center, built in 2017 to US FDA and EU export standards. From fish to sealed tin takes seventeen steps in about fifteen minutes.

The only thing added is salt. Malossol, never pasteurized.

The last mile is ours

It’s imported to California under a CITES permit, the international permit every shipment of sturgeon caviar must carry, and cleared by US Fish and Wildlife on arrival. We repack it by hand into our tins and keep it at 28–32°F. When you order, it leaves our cold room on ice and a courier brings it to your door the same day.

Choose your tin