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 House of Caviar. This sturgeon farm is located on the Caspian Sea where sturgeons live in the wild. Since 1998, the sturgeon has been a protected species and since 2010 the trade in wild caviar has been banned worldwide. The beauty of our caviar is that the sturgeons live in a large delimited area of the Caspian Sea and can therefore feed naturally, which makes our caviar very close to the taste and texture of wild caviar. This way of farming fits perfectly with our thinking when we talk about respecting nature and leaving everything in their value.

This breeder slaughters his sturgeon for caviar only when he has also sold the sturgeon meat. This way, nothing of the animal is lost. Our caviar is the Perle Imperial. This caviar comes from a hybrid sturgeon, a cross between the Huso Dauricus and the Acipenser Schrenckii. Huso is the Beluga family and Acipenser the Asetra family. In short, this is a cross between a Beluga-like and an Asetra-like. To get caviar from a sturgeon, you must first feed and care for it for 14 years. After 14 years, the sturgeon starts depositing its first eggs. They just let the sturgeon absorb these eggs with its body. They do this because the quality is much higher at the 2nd time eggs are laid. When the caviar is removed from the belly, it has to be brined. After the brining process, the caviar goes airtight into kilobins to mature. This is necessary to enhance the caviar's umami flavour. After a certain period (depending on customer requirements), 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 oxidise and this affects its 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 Tartufo Lab, a small family business run by the two brothers Davide and Sebastián Cianni. Together with their truffle dog Dolly, they search for truffles. We also went to see 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 has to be right ánd you need an oak tree. In addition, it takes a lot of time. It can easily take 5 to 10 years before you have truffle growth.

There are mushroom spores running through the ground everywhere. If two or more spores cross and the acidity of the soil is good, Truffles can form in that spot. This always happens near the roots of an oak tree. The truffles can be up to half a metre 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 eaten the truffle completely. Nowadays, dogs are trained to search for truffles. Similarly, Cianni's dog Dolly searched for truffles in the farmer's tartufaio. He found several at the time. 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. You can't get 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.