Many people in western North Carolina would be surprised to know that they live within miles of an internationally acclaimed trout farm. Yet many of those same people have, more than likely, enjoyed products from this farm at local restaurants. Sunburst Trout, nestled at the foot of Shining Rock Wilderness, is a small, family-run company that has earned positive attention around the nation and the world. Their success is built on a philosophy of high quality products and vigilant environmental stewardship that makes them, despite their international reputation, a business firmly grounded in local responsibility.

Dick Jennings left Yale School of Engineering in 1948 to start the first commercial trout farm in the Southeast on his family land. After a few successful years of raising healthy mountain trout for neighbors and friends, he moved the company to its present location. He was looking for space to expand the company and for a large volume of oxygenated water, and he found these at the base of Lake Logan. Over the years since then, however, the pristine location of the farm has become more and more important. Today Sunburst Trout’s position at the foot of a lake far from industry and conventional agriculture, whose watershed is completely protected by the Shining Rock Wilderness and Pisgah National Forest, gives them a unique advantage in raising naturally healthy, toxin-free fish. The water is tested for pollution and consistently found to be clean and pure. It’s the water that provides the foundation for the natural health of the fish, but the company goes far beyond just taking advantage of this natural resource to ensure that their products are of the highest quality.

Dick Jennings is still involved with the company on a daily basis, but he has handed the helm to his daughter Sally Eason. She has taken her father’s deep respect for the mountain environment and extended it to a firm stance of environmental responsibility that has guided the company to its wide success.

The trout are fed with the highest quality feed that is made specifically for Sunburst and contains no animal products or byproducts. They are kept in swiftly running water with plenty of room to swim against the current, resulting in very firm fillets. They are cut and de-boned by hand in a small processing room on-site, where they can be transported from the water to the filleting board in a matter of minutes. Those that are sold nation- and worldwide, which are about half of Sunburst’s sales, are packed and distributed in the same day. The other half of the trout are destined for approximately 140 local restaurants and grocers in western North Carolina. These establishments, by virtue of their proximity to Sunburst, can serve trout that were swimming in mountain water less than 24 hours before: the epitome of freshness.

One of the central principles of the company is to recycle as much as possible in what is a fortunate blend of economic efficiency and environmental responsibility. Some of their most popular products have emerged as “accidents” of the recycling impulse: imperfectly shaped fillets were first smoked in the back of a tractor trailer for an experiment, but the smoked trout soon became a staple of the company’s products. Next, fillets that fell apart in the smoker, or small pieces that would normally have been discarded, became the main ingredient in a delicious smoked trout dip. A choice cut of the fish that is routinely taken out in the de-boning process is used to make trout sausage and burgers. The company has recently hired a full-time culinary staff to continue improving these popular delicacies.

Perhaps the most fortuitous accident (or was it a stroke of genius?) was the origin of Sunburst’s trout caviar, the product that they are most famous for across the world and in western North Carolina’s fine restaurants. During the spawning season, the eggs of female fish create a messy nuisance in the processing room. Seeking a way to safely control the mess, Sally came up with the idea of capturing and containing the eggs at the moment they are cut from the fish. In close keeping with the recycling spirit, it was an easy decision then to use them to make caviar. After many trials of recipes and methods, Sally settled on an ancient recipe of the Middle East that creates a top-quality, entirely natural product.

The recipe hasn’t been changed in the seventeen years that they’ve been using it. After spending nearly fifty years establishing a reputation for excellence among neighbors and nearby restaurants, Sunburst was thrust upon the national stage when, in 2001, their caviar was featured in Gourmet magazine. Since then, there has been so much media attention that it’s hard to keep track of it all. Business has grown at an astounding rate, especially because the mention in Gourmet coincided with the debut of the Sunburst Trout website, www.sunbursttrout.com, where customers across the world can order Sunburst’s products. The company is able to distribute directly to restaurants and stores across the nation, and many individual orders are placed on the website, but a large portion of sales are still made locally. In addition, part of Sunburst’s sales are made through distributors that carry their products to grocery stores and restaurants nationwide. Walk-in visitors, from nearby neighborhoods or faraway countries, are eagerly welcomed at the farm.

Though each media feature of the company tends to focus on a different aspect of the Sunburst operation, each mention makes clear the fact that the national food community is impressed by the ecological philosophy that the company espouses and practices. It seems evident, at the same time, that no company would receive so much attention unless their product was of a consistently superior quality. Despite the attention that Sunburst has received on national and international gourmet stages, the focus and responsibility of the company has remained steadfastly local. It is precisely the integrity of their local stewardship that guarantees Sunburst continued success in the widest gourmet circles.

Ginger Kowal is a volunteer with the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and a biology major at UNCA.

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