Caviar is the prepared (usually by lightly salting) roe of the sturgeon family (Acipenseridae) of fish. There are less than thirty species of sturgeon - any of whose roe can be considered to be caviar. (Caviar from other fish are available, but are always preceded by the name of the fish from which the roe was collected.) The roe of the sturgeon is typically collected by catching the sturgeon with nets, clubbing the fish to stun it, and cutting the belly open to scoop out the eggs. A few rare operations will carefully extract the eggs while leaving the ovaries intact and the fish in a state which it can recover from (but these are generally not found around the Caspian Sea region). The eggs are then washed, strained, salted, and packed into vacuum sealed tins for transport and sale.
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Beluga caviar is harvested from the beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) and has nothing to do with the Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), an arctic marine mammal (also known as the white whale or beluga whale). The Beluga sturgeon is currently the most sought after (and most expensive) of all caviars. The beluga sturgeon is large (up to 30 feet [9 m] in length and over a ton [900 kg]) and long-lived (up to 100 years). Unfortunately, their long life span and late maturing make them especially susceptible to the effects of pollution. Beluga caviar is composed of large (pea-sized), gray eggs. In general, the lighter the color, the more expensive. The grades are: 0 (darkest color), 00 (medium toned), and 000 (lightest color). The 000 grade is the most expensive and is sometimes referred to as "royal caviar". The texture of the caviar is often described as rich and silky.
Osetra caviar (sometimes spelled ossetra or asetra) is harvested from the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and sometimes the Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus). Osetra caviar is also highly prized and fairly rare. The eggs are smaller than the beluga caviar and the color can range from brownish gray to golden. The taste is generally described as nutty and strong.
Sevruga caviar is harvested from starry or stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus). These eggs are small and dark gray in color. This is the most common (and least expensive) caviar from the Caspian Sea and Black Sea region.
Because of over fishing, the destruction of spawning sites, and pollution, supplies of these three caviars have begun to dwindle and prices have sky rocketed. With the recent bans, beluga caviar may no longer be available at all. To fill this void, several "new" caviars have been introduced:
Farm raised Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii), white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), and American hackleback sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus, usually called shovelnose sturgeon). The roe of black paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), although not a sturgeon, is also becoming more available.
Of these, the Siberian caviars, the quality and taste generally approach that of Osetra caviar - and these caviars are commonly, misleadingly, labeled as osetra. White sturgeon can also approach the quality of osetra, but is sometimes tainted with a muddy flavor. The American hackleback caviar is generally not has highly regarded but is may be an excellent roe for use in cooking due to its much lower cost.
Often caviar is sold with the additional label of "malossol". This labeling is from the Russian meaning "little salt". It is generally used to identify the caviar as minimally processed and using a minimum amount of salt. Unless you're comparing two tins from the same producer, the term "malossol" is more marketing gimmick than useful labeling.
Misleading labeling
As mentioned earlier, not all osetra caviar is osetra caviar. In addition, caviar labeled as Russian probably isn't (at least outside of Russian). Russia has not had international approval to export for the last couple years. Most likely, the caviar is old, black market, or from Azerbaijan.
Although the white sturgeon is indigenous to California and the Pacific Northwest, caviar labeled "American sturgeon" may contain white sturgeon, American hackleback, or paddlefish roe. What's the easiest way to tell? If it's relatively inexpensive, it's probably not white sturgeon.
Consumption
High quality caviar is often consumed as is to experience the full flavor and texture of the roe. Caviar service is performed with a plastic (which may be the perfect utensil, but probably seems cheap and ruins the atmosphere considering how much the caviar cost), wood, mother-of-pearl, or even gold utensils. The use stainless steel or silver will taint the flavor. Caviar is also used to top unsalted crackers or toast, on salads, or even as a stuffing. Some caviar is also used as a stuffing in various cooked dishes, but this is probably not the best use of your money.
Shelf Life
Caviar should be consumed on the same day that the tin is opened. Whenever possible the caviar should be kept cold over crushed ice. If the caviar cannot be consumed in the first day, flatten the caviar in the tin and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Gently press the plastic wrap down over the caviar to remove air pockets and store in the refrigerator surrounded by crushed ice.
Unopened containers of fresh caviar should also be stored in the refrigerator with crushed ice. Stored in this manner, the caviar should last two to three weeks. Unopened pasteurized caviar tins typically hold for six months on the shelf.
Freezing caviar should be avoided because it may alter the taste and texture of the roe. If caviar has been frozen, slowly (very slowly) return it to a thawed state by keeping it in the refrigerator over ice for a day or two.
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| Tsar Nicoulai Farmed Osetra Caviar |
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At this time, if you live in a metropolitan area and can find a place to buy fresh caviar expect to pay:
Osetra - $70 to $100 per ounce (28 g)
Siberian Sturgeon - $50 to $90 per ounce
White Sturgeon - $45 to $70 per ounce
American hackleback - $10 to $30 per ounce
Also, it should be noted that it is not necessarily the case that the more expensive brands are better than the lower cost brands.
UPDATE (April 2007): A company called AffordableCaviar.com is selling inexpensive caviar at prices significantly lower than average. This is potentially a great place to buy an 8-ounce (1/2 pound!) Sampler for $115. You won't be getting any osetra or sevruga caviar from this source, but you'll be able to get your hands on hackleback sturgeon caviar, paddlefish roe, salmon roe, and other fish roe that could work for you as an acceptable caviar substitute without the worries of overfishing and poor working conditions.
Love your blog!
The Caviar Kings[size=9:c836ee4274]
From the NOV 2003 issue of Seed:[/size:c836ee4274]
Like nearly every other luxury in the world, caviar is tinged with hues of danger. It has the reek of gangsters and the taste of a dying species. Now, with exclusive access to multiple federal investigations, Simon Cooper reveals just how far greed will take those who seek Russia’s black gold.
If you would abolish avarice, you must abolish its mother, luxury.—Cicero
EARLY FALL 1998—CASPIAN SEA
In a small fishing camp tucked behind the reeds guarding the shores of the Caspian Sea, a poacher prepares to process his catch. In the gunnels of his boat is a thick, writhing carpet of sturgeon, living dinosaurs that have swum the waters of the great blue earth for more than 250 million years. The poacher selects a fat female. She is about four feet long and swollen with eggs. He hits her hard with a plank of wood—not hard enough to kill, but enough to stun. Blood trickles from her eyeballs, mouth, and gills. Quickly, the poacher rolls her over, slits open her belly, reaches inside, and carefully extracts a plump, gray-black sac about the size of a pillow. He puts the egg sac into a large plastic bucket and throws the eviscerated fish on the ground, where she flaps and thrashes, her abdomen gaping, until she succumbs and dies. Later he will butcher her for meat.
(see link above for more of the article - a very absorbing 13 pages long)
My question is: How does it compare? As I've never had the expensive fare, I'm curious to know what similarities or differences it would have to "real" caviar.
Thanks!
--- Doug
Thank you for the information.
Frank
Right Church, wrong Pew! :D
Once upon a time, peasants and workers couldn't keep the fish, those were for the nobility. So the fishermen stole the eggs, which seemed harmless enough at the time, and sent the fish to their "rightul consumers".
Things will change, as they always do.
Caviar is one of those things where common sense (hopefully a trait of engineers in general) can rapidly give way to nonsense. If you have more money than sense, than by all means experiment.
An alternative is simply to go for something that tastes great and is quite inexpensive (around $2 an ounce as opposed to the ludicrous amounts for the Balck Sea type caviars). I am referring to "Tobiko", or flying fish roe. You can read about it here. Not endangered, great flavor that is never "fishy", crunchy texture, not at all salty.
I too love tobiko. Great texture, excellent taste (and seemingly great quality control since every batch tastes about the same). Unfortunately, it doesn't really taste much like caviar and certainly has the wrong texture.
I too love tobiko. Great texture, excellent taste (and seemingly great quality control since every batch tastes about the same). Unfortunately, it doesn't really taste much like caviar and certainly has the wrong texture.
This only holds if you insist that the definition of caviar is restricted to Sturgeon roe. Of course, that rapidly collapses when one considers all the different sub-species of the fish and the simple fact that some of them produce awful tasting roe. So, under that geas, your "doesn't really taste much like caviar" is somewhat specious.
Likewise, what Tobiko does not taste like is what many consider traditional caviar, which is actually an advantage to many palates. As for the "wrong texture", I think you will agree that a subjective opinion, which that is, has no place in engineering.
It is probably safe to assume that Mr. Chu DOES use the word caviar to expressly mean "sturgeon roe" and uses the word roe for general fish eggs. He says it in the post and even says that another fish's roe can be sold as caviar only if preceded by the name of the fish. In that case, I think I'd have to agree that the flavor and texture of tobiko (flying fish roe) isn't similar to that of caviar (sturgeon roe). The other fish mentioned in the article - paddlefish and hackleback are much more similar.
Jonathan S.
It is probably safe to assume that Mr. Chu DOES use the word caviar to expressly mean "sturgeon roe" and uses the word roe for general fish eggs. He says it in the post and even says that another fish's roe can be sold as caviar only if preceded by the name of the fish. In that case, I think I'd have to agree that the flavor and texture of tobiko (flying fish roe) isn't similar to that of caviar (sturgeon roe). The other fish mentioned in the article - paddlefish and hackleback are much more similar.
Jonathan S.
ok.
The cost for half a kilo (500 grams) of the beluga was $14.32!!! The salesman apologized that he had sold the last of the "golden caviar" [?000 grade?] the day before. I said, "I thought all the golden caviar was reserved for the Shah." He replied, "What the Shah does know, the Shah doesn't get!" The caviar lasted for three months. My wife, two boys and I finally got rid of it by spreading it on buttered toast. Honestly, 500 grams of caviar is just too much to deal with.
Alex
But one of the best things I've eaten along the same line is a set of deep fried shad row. In a restaurant it Charleston S. C. it's about $10 for the whole dinner.
[Edited by Michael Chu: There was a good deal more content to this post, but the language and writing deteriorated to the point that it was extremely offensive - which I believe was part of the point this poster was trying to make. I invite the poster to post his or her opinions but in a more constructive and less crude fashion. It started to sound like someone from HBO's Deadwood or Scorsese's Departed was posting.]
To Guest, your credibility would be higher if you registered and became an identifiable individual. I'm going to pick and choose from your post for context. I don't intend to change your meaning, only to provide placekeepers.
From my perspective, spelling and grammar have developed to aid communication. If you don't care enough to make the effort to communicate clearly perhaps you don't care much about your subject.
Perhaps you think this, but I see no substantiation. We all fall victim to anthropomorphism from time to time; we should not confuse kindly thoughts and fantasies with reality. There is no demonstrable fact in your words.
We can live without much we choose not to do without. People don't make food from animals just to make money; other people offer money for food in order to avoid tasks they have no time, inclination, skill, or stomach for. There are lots of reasons I buy meat products from Giant or Costco or specialty stores. In honesty one is that I really prefer not to become intimate with the process of turning animals into food. There is value to me in not having to do it myself and I pay for that.
There are certainly people in the meat industry who would take shortcuts in order to glean a greater return from the process. In the United States and numerous other countries there are governmental, social, or religious mandates that protect animals from cruelty and the consumer from health shortfalls. In many places around the world there are procedures to protect those who report transgressions from inside and outside organizations.
Reasonable people can disagree on what is right on the basis of the same set of facts. As a society we find consensus (not unanimity). That process works best and fastest when we do not confuse opinion with fact.
Freedom of speech in the United States serves to allow anyone to voice their opinion, and to offer information they believe is fact. The media and particularly the Internet make speech faster, cheaper, and more efficient.
For my part, I want the animals I depend upon to be treated well, fed properly, not drugged, and killed humanely. I want to see efficiency in the use of the products and waste minimized. I often pay extra for both the fact of those desires and reasonable assurance that the facts are indeed ... well ... facts.
On that note, and actually relevant to caviar, to me that means if a fish is killed harvesting roe for caviar I want to see the flesh of the fish used for something and not wasted.
If it makes you feel any better, I am an abysmal fisherman. I quite literally dragged a fishing line behind my boat all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and caught nothing.
you are in fact a sorry mess about many things - your spelling, your language, your infantile attitude, your extremism.
if you wish any rationale being to consider opinions you hold, you need to grow up - really fast. my cat wouldn't put up with your attitude.
you are in fact a sorry mess about many things - your spelling, your language, your infantile attitude, your extremism.
if you wish any rationale being to consider opinions you hold, you need to grow up - really fast. my cat wouldn't put up with your attitude.
>just because someone is not smart and knows good grammer doesnt mean they are wrong.
if someone is "not smart" odds are they may not have formulated a rationale opinion.
oh, that's "grammar"
no spell checker?
>sorry if you met my cat. you would understand the love there.
haven't met your cat; my cat loves squirrel meat - chicken livers, too.
>that is another thing ejacation is over rated. you can not do or live without it.
not like when our moms grew up and had 8 kids and still did it.
now this is really interesting. "our moms" have been "ejaculating." fascinating.
technically there a "female ejaculation" noted - I doubt that's what you mean - as you can't spell that either.
note to self: take up collection of unused apostrophes for the textually challenged.
second note to self: find out what human sex has to do with fish eggs.
>you can not do that now. you will fall .
gravity makes everything fall, to what specifically is the reference?
>school does not make a human better. you are a fool to think so. with the way you write . sorry you just dont say fuck you, you are rude with the proper grammer. then that makes you the better person. wright bitch..i dont think so. anger is such a real emotion. you all have it to. you are far from better then that person who is angry about people who eat and kill animals
wright bitch - oh dear, where does one start with that? we got mill wrights, wheel wrights, LIl'Joe Cartwright . . . check your spelling and let us know.
did you mean: "you all have it, too" ?
as a point of fact: "smart" has nothing to do with "education" - some humans have an innate intelligence, others just rant and rave in complete ignorance.
heck, if you get a bit more hot under the collar, you'll cook yourself and we can feed you to . . . .uh,,,, what group of carnivores would be acceptable?