It’s not from Russia or Iran: This caviar costs more than $10,000 per kg and its origin will surprise you

Over 1000ft above sea level, high in the foggy mountains of Madagascar, 68km east of it’s vibrant capital city Antananarivo, food experts have found an unlikely source of caviar - and it’s turning into an incredibly lucrative business.

Caviar, a delicacy made from the salted eggs of sturgeon fish, has been a luxury item on the plates of the wealthy since the 17th century, when Russian leader Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich I made caviar a state monopoly.

CNN explains that due to the long maturation period of sturgeon fish, between eight and 20 years, “caviar can fetch prices as high as $27,000 a teaspoon.”

Since then, production of the fish eggs has increased across the world. And when Delphyne Dabezies launched Acipenser, a company that supplies Rova and Kasnodar caviar brands, little did she realise quite how big the goldmine was she was about to strike.

Dabezies told CNN that the advice she received about looking into the 20km-wide Lake Mantasoa was a lost cause: “every expert was saying it was impossible.”

Laughter came from all sides as Acipenser produced its first batch of Rova Caviar in 2017. “At the beginning it was difficult,” Dabezies admitted. “Everyone was laughing – it was a joke. But the only way to prove that the caviar is excellent is to taste it.”

And from then on, business boomed across Africa and then in other continents, with Dabezies adding to CNN that “for chefs now, it’s a selling point to have caviar from Madagascar on the plate.”

Nowadays, the most expensive product sells for €11,670 (around $11,960) per kilogram, with the government also intrigued at the market opening that has been created. Given the success, the company were soon granted a lease to allow it to re-forest and protect 200 hectares of hills around Lake Mantasoa.

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Acipenser states that it is implementing measures to promote the lake’s sustainability. These include restocking the lake to support local fisheries, installing a water monitoring system, and establishing facilities to prevent water pollution.

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