This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Type “Quebec caviar” into a search engine and you will see: we know very little about this Quebec river treasure, apart from the fact that it is rare, delicious and produced in an artisanal way by very few fishermen in the province. Simon Duval, founder of Simmer International, is one of those who put their name on the precious little jars of Quebec caviar. A tradition that he continues thanks to his unconditional love of fishing and a real respect for hyperlocal products.
“When I was young, I didn’t like fish and I was afraid of water. Besides, I didn’t like caviar either,” says Simon Duval, a 49-year-old businessman who founded his river product processing company, Simmer International (“a combination of the words Simon and !”), in Nicolet, in 2002.
With his small team of about twenty workers, the entrepreneur seeks to encourage the development and sale of fish from the commercial fishermen of Lake Saint-Pierre and fish farms in Quebec. He thus wishes to make known several species of fish from here: Canadian salmon, trout, carp, Arctic char, brill and the famous yellow sturgeon, the one that gives caviar.
A family passion
Simon Duval was raised on a dairy farm by farming parents. His uncle, a commercial fisherman, quickly introduced him to his favorite activity.
“At 18, I almost died,” he says, without dwelling too much on the event that completely changed his trajectory. “From then on, I decided that I would make a living as a fisherman. In 1991, he therefore began his career in the world of fish and will never leave it.
A decade later, he handed over his fishing rod to start his marine products processing business, Simmer International. “I didn’t quit because I wanted to quit, but rather because it wasn’t paying enough and I now had a young family to support. »
However, the story ends very well: his three children, now aged 21, 23 and 24, now work with him. “They are all still learning, but we can already see what their strengths are,” says the proud dad. In addition, Simon went back to fishing two years ago. “I was too bored,” he admits.
And sometimes, he manages to fish a catch that is worth gold: a lake sturgeon filled with caviar.
On the treasure hunt
Only sturgeon eggs are considered caviar. Other fish eggs, for example salmon, lumpfish or trout, are not “real” caviar.
Lake sturgeon, the one that gives Quebec’s wild caviar, is fished with a dead line, marginally by a few fishermen, in Lake Saint-Pierre near Trois-Rivières, Lake Saint-Louis in the southwest of Montreal and the river corridor between the Laviolette bridge in Trois-Rivières and Île d’Orléans. This fish can measure from 90 to 140 cm and weigh from 5 to 35 kilos.
“We put the small and large sturgeon back into the water to keep only the means,” explains Simon Duval. To get caviar, you have to come across a medium-sized female lake sturgeon with mature eggs. When you find it, it’s a nice surprise. “If there is, we can expect to find around a kilo of caviar per fish, estimates the fisherman. It is then salted, packaged and frozen.
This caviar, which is dark green, almost black, is very different from farmed fish caviar. The slightly grassy, salty taste and tender texture of the grain varies, depending on the area in which it was caught. The size of the grains is related to the size of the fish: the bigger it is, the bigger its eggs are too.
“From one jar of caviar to another, the taste is not always the same. And these few small jars that are produced each year always quickly find takers, despite the rather expensive price. In other words, hurry if you want to taste it this holiday season!
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.