THE STORY

THE STORY OF BELUGA LOVES YOU

At Beluga Loves You, we value the origin of our ingredients. Origin is a common theme in our dishes at Beluga Loves You. Our dishes always have a fresh tone, with a main ingredient of high quality. Our garnishes are always submissive to the main ingredient.

To ensure that our ingredients are sourced with respect for nature, Servais travels to our suppliers several times a year. During these trips, he examines how the supplier handles our products and whether they are treated with respect for nature.

our ingredients

Our ingredients are all deliberately chosen by us. We always choose honest ingredients, preferably from the neighborhood.

OUR CAVIAR

Our caviar comes from the Imperial Heritage farm in Bergamo Italy. At over 70 years old, this sturgeon farm is the oldest farm in the world. The beauty of this farm is their respect for nature. This farmer slaughters his sturgeon for caviar only when he has also sold the sturgeon meat. This way, nothing of the animal is lost.

To get caviar from a sturgeon, you must first feed and care for it for 20 years. After 20 years, the sturgeon starts depositing its first eggs. These eggs they just let the sturgeon absorb with its body. They do this because the quality at the 2nd time eggs are much higher. When the caviar is removed from the belly then it has to be brined. After the brining process, the caviar goes airtight into kilobins to mature. This is necessary to enhance the umami flavor of the caviar. After a certain period of time (depending on the customer's wishes), the tin is opened and checked for quality. Because the caviar has been in contact with the tin at the edge, it has started to oxidize, which affects the quality. At Beluga Loves You, we only serve the core of the kilo can, as this is the highest quality caviar.

OUR TRUFFLE

Our truffles also come from Italy. From a small one-man company consisting of the owner Cianni. He and his 2 sons and their truffle dog Dolly search for truffles. We also went to visit this supplier. During this visit, we slept in a farmhouse with a farmer who has planted a tartufaio (truffle forest). Truffle growth depends on many different factors. The soil composition must be good AND you need an oak tree. In addition, it takes a lot of time. It can easily take 5 to 10 years for truffle growth to occur.

There are mushroom spores running through the ground everywhere. If two or more spores cross and the acidity of the soil is good then Truffles can develop in that spot. This always happens near the roots of an oak tree. The truffles can be up to half a meter deep in the ground. In the past, pigs were used to search for truffles. However, this was not convenient because often before you could take the pig away from the truffle, it had already completely eaten the truffle. Nowadays, dogs are trained to search for truffles. Similarly, Cianni's dog, Dolly, searched for truffles in the farmer's tartufaio. He then found several. When the truffles are taken from the ground they are very carefully cleaned and weighed. Then they are packed with great care and shipped to the buyer. The beauty of Cianni's business is that it is very authentic. There are no machines involved. When I need truffles I can send him a message, and 2 days later they are at Beluga Loves You. It doesn't get any fresher!

OUR OYSTER

Our oysters come from Zeeland (province in the Netherlands). In the village of Yerseke and are born in the Oosterschelde. We use oysters that are 6 years old. The oysters are deposited as eggs in the Oosterschelde. When they are big enough they are put in a net. This prevents them from expanding and they have to put all their energy into their own flesh. This ensures that you get a very nice fleshy oyster. Again, what I like about "De Oesterij" in Zeeland is the pleasure, passion and respect for nature with which these products are made. In addition, it is a local product, where the supplier has to use Dutch elements to produce. That is very clever! We applied a special preparation technique to the oyster. That is why it is now our signature dish.

Our oyster is a triploid oyster. That means it has 3 chromosomes. This means that it cannot reproduce. So how can new oyster be created? For this, 2 oysters must be crossed each time. The advantage of a triploid oyster is that it can be eaten all year round. Normally, an oyster is best in cold temperatures. Guests like to eat an oyster in the summer time. If an oyster is in too warm water, it wants to reproduce and starts to milk itself. You can taste this in the oyster and this is not a nice taste. So with a triploid oyster you don't suffer from this and you can eat it all year round.

When the oysters have had their 6th year of life they go to the oyster pit. This is where the final cycle takes place. Because the oysters are full of sand, they are placed here one more time in pure seawater which causes the oyster to clean itself. When all the sand is gone, the oysters are cleaned, packaged and sent to us. The oysters that come to us today were packed yesterday. So this product is also super fresh.