The roe come from the Vendace, but the taste is from the north.

The vendace is the world´s smallest salmon. Aside from plankton and crustacean, vendace live on river minerals – which deliver the unique taste of Kalix Löjrom. The big rivers really bring a part of the northern inland all the way out to sea and create one of the world’s least salty freshwater ocean with a salt level of only 0,3%.

The constant refill from the rivers make the entire ocean renew itself every third year, leading to a clean, clear water with perfect conditions for the vendace. The females breed at the end of October and beginning of November, as they lay their roe near river mouths with access to fresh water. Some travel upstream, but always return to the same area year after year. The females prefer the sand and gravel of the Swedish part of the Baltic sea, before the Finnish side which is more muddy.

The egg hatch in spring when water temperatures reach 12-13 centigrades. By then, the rivers’ spring flood has picked up and the fry feed off the nourishment that it brings. The marine environment of the northern Baltic sea is is very special and only contains some 35 species of sea floor plants.

It is a fragile fauna, shaped to grow fast during the short season when the ocean is ice-free. The vendace fishing begins on September 20 every year, and during the five weeks of fishing the labor is equally intense on land, with processing the fish, and preparing the roe. The females are squeezed manually, but the males are also great food fish and can be packaged whole. A female vendace weighs around 25 grams, and its roe content is rarely more than five grams. After the squeezing, the roe is gently rinsed and cleaned before it is dried, salted and packaged by hand. The only additive in Kalix Löjrom is 4% salt.