Malaysia’s first caviar brand, T’lur Caviar 
Sep 12 2019, 02:05 PM, updated 7y ago
QUOTE
On a quiet patch of land in Tanjung Malim, Perak, strange, miraculous things are happening. The land is filled with large tanks, which in turn, are filled with fish. So far, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
Except that these fish happen to be sturgeon, a breed of fish that typically thrives in sub-tropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines in Europe, north America and some parts of Asia.
Sturgeon fish are also better known for its roe, tiny little orbs called caviar that often fetch thousands of ringgit. And whaddya know? This little Malaysian farm harvests caviar too!
When I first meet him, Chien Wei Ho is all smiles, beaming with pride at the sprawling fish metropolis he has been instrumental in creating.
Chien is a Taiwanese national who has a strong interest in sturgeon fish. He previously owned a few hot spring resorts in Taiwan, where he bred sturgeon as a hobby. Most of the fish perished when a typhoon struck in the late 2000s.
Chien was devastated but kept moving forward. On the invitation of a few Malaysian investors, he initially came to Malaysia to start a hot springs resort but ended up deciding to kick-start a sturgeon fish farming project instead in 2008.
The investors pumped in millions of ringgit into the project and Chien got to work. It took him five years, thousands of lost fish, countless expert naysayers, a lot of determination (and some heartbreak) and eight failed attempts before he finally nailed the recipe for breeding sturgeon fish in Malaysia.
“We hired a lot of experts and most of them gave up, but I kept trying,” says Chien simply.
Though Chien – understandably – will not reveal his secret methods, interestingly, after all that trial-and-error, he has discovered that sturgeon fish actually grow much faster in hot, humid local temperatures than they otherwise would.
“The growth of the fish is much faster – because in Europe, they have four seasons, so during winter, the fish don’t eat and don’t grow but here they’re growing and growing 365 days a year,” he says jubilantly.
Generally, what this means is that the growth trajectory of the local sturgeon fish is almost double that of its international counterparts.
On the farm, for example, a sturgeon can weigh between six to eight kg when it is three years old, but in China, this weight is only achievable in six years. So on that front, the tropically-grown sturgeon has a huge headstart.
At the moment, the farm imports both fertilised sturgeon eggs and sturgeon fish predominantly from China. The fertilised eggs are kept in a temperature-controlled environment (the water and room have to be around 16ºC in the initial stages) for a few months with the temperature cranked up at different stages so the fish get used to the external temperature.
After this, the fish spend the rest of their lives in tanks exposed to ambient (read: tropical) temperatures.
Chien says the purity of the water used in the tanks is important to ensure good quality fish. As such, he uses water sourced from the forest behind the farm, which is so pristine it has a pH value of seven.
This water is pumped into the tanks three times a day to ensure it remains clean and the fish are only fed commercial marine pellets for optimum growth.
“The natural resources here are excellent, the water quality is very good so I am confident that the fish and the caviar are world-class,” says Chien.
Today, the farm is host to about 18,000 sturgeon (the largest fish on the farm is a whopping 80kg) and business is thriving. This in large part has to do with the involvement of company director Lim Aun Jun.
More at:Except that these fish happen to be sturgeon, a breed of fish that typically thrives in sub-tropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines in Europe, north America and some parts of Asia.
Sturgeon fish are also better known for its roe, tiny little orbs called caviar that often fetch thousands of ringgit. And whaddya know? This little Malaysian farm harvests caviar too!
When I first meet him, Chien Wei Ho is all smiles, beaming with pride at the sprawling fish metropolis he has been instrumental in creating.
Chien is a Taiwanese national who has a strong interest in sturgeon fish. He previously owned a few hot spring resorts in Taiwan, where he bred sturgeon as a hobby. Most of the fish perished when a typhoon struck in the late 2000s.
Chien was devastated but kept moving forward. On the invitation of a few Malaysian investors, he initially came to Malaysia to start a hot springs resort but ended up deciding to kick-start a sturgeon fish farming project instead in 2008.
The investors pumped in millions of ringgit into the project and Chien got to work. It took him five years, thousands of lost fish, countless expert naysayers, a lot of determination (and some heartbreak) and eight failed attempts before he finally nailed the recipe for breeding sturgeon fish in Malaysia.
“We hired a lot of experts and most of them gave up, but I kept trying,” says Chien simply.
Though Chien – understandably – will not reveal his secret methods, interestingly, after all that trial-and-error, he has discovered that sturgeon fish actually grow much faster in hot, humid local temperatures than they otherwise would.
“The growth of the fish is much faster – because in Europe, they have four seasons, so during winter, the fish don’t eat and don’t grow but here they’re growing and growing 365 days a year,” he says jubilantly.
Generally, what this means is that the growth trajectory of the local sturgeon fish is almost double that of its international counterparts.
On the farm, for example, a sturgeon can weigh between six to eight kg when it is three years old, but in China, this weight is only achievable in six years. So on that front, the tropically-grown sturgeon has a huge headstart.
At the moment, the farm imports both fertilised sturgeon eggs and sturgeon fish predominantly from China. The fertilised eggs are kept in a temperature-controlled environment (the water and room have to be around 16ºC in the initial stages) for a few months with the temperature cranked up at different stages so the fish get used to the external temperature.
After this, the fish spend the rest of their lives in tanks exposed to ambient (read: tropical) temperatures.
Chien says the purity of the water used in the tanks is important to ensure good quality fish. As such, he uses water sourced from the forest behind the farm, which is so pristine it has a pH value of seven.
This water is pumped into the tanks three times a day to ensure it remains clean and the fish are only fed commercial marine pellets for optimum growth.
“The natural resources here are excellent, the water quality is very good so I am confident that the fish and the caviar are world-class,” says Chien.
Today, the farm is host to about 18,000 sturgeon (the largest fish on the farm is a whopping 80kg) and business is thriving. This in large part has to do with the involvement of company director Lim Aun Jun.
https://www.star2.com/food/2019/09/12/malaysian-caviar-tlur/
QUOTE
Taste-wise, the caviar is delicious – bouncy yet pliant with a lightly briny quality and rich umami notes. T’lur’s caviar is priced at RM800 for 30g of Amur and RM600 for 30g of Siberia, but there is currently a promotional price of RM500 for Amur and RM400 for Siberia.
Mahal.
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