The northern pike is not a pretty fish. It is long, ungainly and mottled in murky shades of greeny-grey, designed by nature to lurk in shallow waters and snag its unwary prey with viciously protuberant jaws.

But look again and you may find a hidden beauty in the homely pike. That's because this bottom-feeding denizen of northern Prairie lakes produces some of the best roe outside the Caspian Sea.

"Here's a fish that's considered a garbage fish, but could have enormous potential," marvels Scott McTaggart, owner of Winnipeg's trendsetting Fusion Grill restaurant.

In recent years Manitoba has quietly become a major producer of one of the world's most highly prized foodstuffs: the delicate golden caviar that comes from lake whitefish.

Then just last year, the folks at the Winnipeg-based Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (which buys, processes and markets freshwater fish from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories and part of northwestern Ontario) discovered that northern pike produces an even better roe, with a deeper yet more delicate flavour.

"To me, it almost tastes like the lake. It tastes like where it came from," says Jay Middagh, the marketing analyst everyone calls, simply, "the caviar guy" at the corporation.

Even better, this is one luxury food that is a good news story for almost everyone involved. It's sustainable, provides jobs to those who need them most and offers Canadian chefs something affordably glamorous to serve customers hungry for local ingredients.

Who knew something so extraordinary could come from such a humble source?

"Real" caviar -- the precious sevruga, osetra and beluga that retails for hundreds of dollars an ounce -- is the lightly salted roe of the sturgeon, a large and ancient fish that swims in increasingly imperiled waters.

Most caviar comes from the Caspian Sea, where sturgeon are threatened by pollution and gang activity on the inland sea's Russian north coast and religious strife on its Iranian southern coast.

In an attempt to protect the diminishing sturgeon population, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) places a yearly quota on Caspian Sea caviar, allowing only a tiny amount to reach world markets.

Not surprisingly, that has driven prices to ridiculous heights ($595 for 50 grams of beluga caviar at the International House of Caviar, www.caviar.bc.ca). It has also left the ethical consumer feeling queasy about contributing to the myriad environmental and criminal problems in the region. So, the race is on to find another caviar worthy of the name.

In recent years, a handful of Canadian sturgeon farms have started up in New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia. (Wild sturgeon fishing has been illegal in North America since overfishing in the 19th century devastated the enormous populations that once swam in our great rivers and lakes.)

But since it takes a decade or more for a sturgeon to reach maturity, it will be a while before Canadian sturgeon caviar is widely available. Even then, it won't be cheap; it now costs about $150 for 50 grams of farmed caviar, not as pricy as beluga, but still beyond most budgets.

Instead, aficionados like Tyler Gray are turning to roe harvested from other types of fish. His gourmet food company, the Vancouver-and New York-based Mikuni Wild Harvest, carries four types of North American caviar, including a wild arctic char caviar from northern Canada.

"It's a really small production. It's really unique char," Mr. Gray says, adding that demand is certainly there. "We sell out of all of the char caviar we get, and all of the steelhead caviar we get, and all of the wild golden brook trout we get, just with our chefs and restaurants."

That's the one big drawback with Canada's golden caviar. Not only do few Canadians know it even exists, those who do can rarely get their hands on it.

Mr. Middagh estimates that the Freshwater Fish Corp. produces 125,000 to 150,000 pounds of whitefish roe a year, but only 5% of that is sold in Canada. The rest is exported, most of it going to Scandinavia, where it is served in glistening heaps on cruise ships.

In fact, Manitoba's golden caviar isn't even sold in retail-friendly portions in Canada.

"Part of our challenge is that the whitefish caviar is only available in a one-kilogram block," says Rudy Mc-Gowan of Mariner Neptune Fish and Seafood in Winnipeg, which sells to restaurants and hotels in Western Canada. "It's good enough that there would be a market for it if it were available in a different size."

So far, though, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. has been concentrating on the wholesale market, working mainly with chefs to spread the word.

"They're the right people to get it into the hearts and minds of people who would buy it," Mr. Middagh says, adding, "retail is probably an opportunity for someone who would partner with us."

That kind of exclusivity, of course, just makes golden caviar more attractive to its aficionados.

The good news is that, compared with the real stuff, it's still affordable, about $50 a kilogram wholesale last year (prices have not yet been set for 2009). No wonder Mr. Middagh calls it "poor man's caviar."

But it's all good news when it comes to Manitoba's golden caviar.

For one thing, it is a very pure food, containing nothing but roe and a small amount of salt.

"All our biological testing has been just fantastic," Mr. Middagh says. "It's a wonderful, clean, clean product."

Unlike sturgeon roe, its harvesting and production is also remarkably sustainable.

"We have hundreds of lakes," Mr. Middagh says. "And there's so many fish in the lakes. Freshwater species, they spawn at young ages. They're very prolific spawners. There's a very healthy resource."

The fishing operations are small ones, with fishermen-- three-quarters of whom are aboriginal--going out in small, 20-foot skiffs to harvest the northern pike in spring, and whitefish in the fall, when they spawn.

"There's no shortage of fish," Mr. Middagh says. "Just more fishermen have to be trained and be on board to catch the fish.

"A fisherman can earn twice as much from a fish now, if it's a female with eggs, so that's huge for them," he adds. "Everything we earn goes back to the fishermen. We're selling the product for as much as we can, and returning as much as we can to the fishermen."

That helps small fishing communities like Gimli on Lake Winnipeg, where the Kristjanson family has been fishing for 118 years. "When I started there were 150 whitefishermen here on Lake Winnipeg, and each had a boat. Now in Gimli there's a handful," says Robert T. Kristjanson.

The fishermen are intrigued by the growing interest in the posh new product from their chilly waters.

"Don't forget, at one time the roe was all thrown away," says Robert's son and fellow fisherman, Chris Kristjanson. "Now the caviar is handled with kid gloves."

"It has become a huge thing, because there is no sturgeon coming off here," Robert says. "Whitefish is coming up in the market. It's going to be a very fancy fish."

And swimming close behind the newly fancy whitefish is its ugly cousin, the northern pike, which Mr. Middagh believes shows even greater promise.

In 2008, its first year of production, the Freshwater Fish corporation produced 25,000 pounds of northern pike roe, which earned raves from chefs, customers and other producers at international trade shows.

"We sold all of it before it was ever produced, and then we didn't produce enough," Mr. Middagh says. "We could have processed 100,000 pounds and sold it quite easily."

This year, he anticipates they'll process 30,000 pounds of pike roe, which should be available by May. And despite the recession, demand is still strong.

"All the stuff I've tried this year is just fantastic," he says. "Oh, it's so good."

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THE GOLDEN STANDARD:

Manitoba's golden caviar has a slightly firmer crunch than sturgeon caviar, which can be quite soft and creamy, but without the leatheriness you can sometimes experience in salmon or flying fish roe. It has a fresh, delicate flavour, with a subtle saltiness (unlike, say, the overly briny lumpfish caviar) and a faint herbal note.

It's delicious served as a garnish with seafood or on its own with the traditional accompaniments of white toast or blini, creme fraiche, onions and chopped eggs.

Remember: Silver and stainless steel give the eggs a harsh, tinny taste, so eat your caviar with a gold, mother of pearl or even plastic spoon.

If you want more information or to purchase Canada's golden caviar, contact the following: - Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., 204-983-6600, www.freshwaterfish.com - Mariner Neptune Fish and Seafood, 1-800-668-8862, www.marinerneptune.com - Mikuni Wild Harvest, 1-866-862-9866, www.mikuniwildharvest.com

Source: Financial Post