It can cost as much as €1,500 per kilo, it is produced near Olhão and almost every gourmet bit of it is shipped abroad. What are we talking about? The Algarve’s “white caviar” is possibly one of its greatest edible ‘secrets’. The eggs of snails, no less, which are now slithering their way into the glossy ranks of upmarket cookbooks.
According to Diário de Notícias, Caviar Blanc’s little pearls stand as a new challenge to the country’s chefs.
They are expensive because it takes hundreds of snails to make a kilo of the stuff.
Caviar Blanc’s Altair Joaquim explained that adult snails lay only around four grams-worth of eggs per year, and even then, they may not all be of the right quality.
Talking to DN, Joaquim said his company, which started production in the Algarve four years ago, has a “little secret” that has managed to break the growth cycle of the snail and maintain the product unaltered.
What is all means is anyone’s guess, as we are unlikely to find any of Caviar Blanc’s little pearls available for sale locally. For the business that began with backing from community fund PRODER, it has translated into an enviable reputation … and lots of tiny white eggs.
