Handling and Serving Caviar

Caviar roe is tender and fragile, so always be very gentle with it —lift while spooning out. If spreading, ease it softly with a teaspoon. Caviar should be served from a non-metal spoon. Caviar spoons are widely available in bone, tortoise shell and mother of pearl. Any metal, including silver, will impart a metallic flavor to the granules.

Salmon caviar has a large "grain" (egg size) and when used to decorate canapés, single grains can be set in place with the tip of a table knife. It's best to rinse Lumpfish, Whitefish, and Salmon caviars to prevent any color from running. Turn out caviar into a fine-mesh strainer. Rinse gently with cold tap water. Shake, then turn onto several layers of paper towels to absorb moisture. Then use as directed.

It is important when serving caviar that the jars are removed from the refrigerator 10 to 15 minutes before serving, and opened immediately before consumption.

The two most popular beverages with simple caviar are frozen vodka or a very dry Champagne or sparkling wine. A dry white wine also works well.

Caviar should not be cooked or it will toughen. If using it in a recipe, always add it toward the end of the preparation, or as a last-minute garnish.

Storing Caviar Safely

Don't open caviar until needed. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers promptly and use within a day or two. If caviar is left in the tin, the surface should be smoothed and a sheet of plastic wrap should be pressed directly onto the surface before placing it back in the refrigerator. Turn the tin over each day so the oil reaches all of the eggs.

Refrigerate but never freeze! Freezing of caviar can be done but is not recommended. Freezing can toughen the caviar roe membrane and alter the flavor. If you feel you will not be able to consume your caviar within the three weeks recommended or you are not able to refrigerate it properly, freezing is an option. If you freeze your caviar you must thaw it slowly in your refrigerator over most of a day prior to serving.

In order to avoid having the berries burst, caviar must be refrigerated at 28 to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This can be done either by putting the tin in the coldest part of the refrigerator, usually the meat shelf, or by placing the tin in a bowl and surrounding it with crushed ice. Fresh caviar can be stored in your refrigerator for 15-20 days (unopened). Consume caviar once it has been opened within 2-3 days. Unopened pasteurized caviar can be kept on the shelf for 6 months.

The Best Caviar

For ages, caviar, which by definition is the salted roe of a large fish, has been considered a gourmet food and a delicacy for most people and continues to be so up to this day. In the early times, caviar was considered highly valuable and was a dainty choice of food enjoyed by royalty and the privileged few. It was also once served as an appetizer in the Old West. Its reputation of being highly valuable in the early days still continues up to now. Caviar is not one of the cheapest delights available in the market. But even if that is so, it does not stop gourmet food lovers from learning to enjoy them. You can get great deals on any type of caviar if you browse on the Internet. You will be amazed on the different varieties offered by online retailers from around the world and how you could find the freshest caviar from them.

The two main producers of caviar are Russia and Iran, along with the countries Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Caviar production is mostly centered in the Caspian Sea and the major importers of caviar are the United States, Japan, UK, France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

When purchasing caviar online, you need to properly scrutinize the source or the shop. Always remember that caviar is very perishable. You always have to be ensured of its freshness and get ones which are very close to its canning date. Therefore, you need to be close to the source or shop as possible so that you get only the fresh ones. Even though the caviar sold in the market is sealed properly to last a long time that does not necessarily mean that you are ensured of its freshness.

Caviar, like any other gourmet food, comes in different varieties. So it is also vital if you would know which variety you want before ordering it.

Almost everybody would like a store that treats them well. It would be a plus for the retailer if they do not have any cases of customer dissatisfaction. You need to read reviews and articles on the Internet or magazines relating to the company or store and see how they do with satisfying its customers' needs. You could also ask your peers if they have had experience with the retailer you are eyeing on.

You also need to find out whether that online store is always busy. It should not only sell caviar but other gourmet products, as well. A factor which makes that retailer busy is its ability to sell its products. If that store is constantly selling their stock, then there is no reason for their products to gather dust in their display areas or storage rooms. You are almost guaranteed that they would only sell the freshest. If that store practically has no time to sit around, then you can also be sure that they have a lot of satisfied customers. They surely have a way of gaining their customers' trust and retaining it.

Keep these tips in mind when browsing for caviar retailers. Remember you deserve the best so it is very important you find only the best among them.

What Is Caviar

Caviar is the processed, salted roe of certain species of fish, most notably the sturgeon. It is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'œuvres.

The word caviar entered English from Turkish, but there are various purported etymologies of the word. While some claim that it was the Turkish who first generated the word khavyar, some say it derives from the Persian word خاگ‌آور (Xâg-âvar), meaning "the roe-generator"; others say chav-jar, which means "cake of power", a reference to the ancient Persian practice of eating caviar in stick form as a kind of elixir.

In Persian, the word refers to both the sturgeon and its roe; in Russian, the word икра (ikra), "roe", is used. The Russian word malossol ("little salt") sometimes appears on caviar tins to show that the caviar is minimally salted; typically, caviar is 4% to 8% salt, with the better-brand varieties generally being less salted.

Contemporary black caviar is roe from sturgeon fished from the Caspian Sea by Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan. The highest prices paid are for the Beluga, Ossetra, and Sevruga varieties. (The large-grained Beluga caviar is from the Beluga sturgeon, a fish which is unrelated to the Beluga whale, a mammal.) The golden Sterlet caviar was once a favorite of czars, shahs, and emperors. Currently, the dwindling fishing yields consequent to overfishing and pollution have resulted in the creation of less costly, though popular, caviar-quality roe alternatives from the whitefish and the North Atlantic salmon.

The harvest and sale of black caviar have been banned in Russia since August 1, 2007. The ban extends for 10 years, but scientific research and the artificial breeding of black caviar fish are exempted.

In the early 1900s, Canada and the United States were the major caviar suppliers to Europe; they harvested roe from the lake sturgeon in the North American midwest, and from the Shortnose sturgeon and the Atlantic sturgeon spawning in the rivers of the Eastern coast of the United States. Today, however, the Shortnose sturgeon is rated Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of endangered species and rated Endangered per the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

In Spain a fish farm called Caviar de Riofrio has begun to produce organic caviar. The company raises sturgeon in such a way that it has earned organic certification by CITES. Current aquaculture of sturgeon is an economically viable means of sustainable, commercial caviar production, especially in Spain, France, Uruguay, and California. Hackleback caviar is a popular, inexpensive product of this industry. Paddlefish, a sturgeon cousin, is also farmed in increasing numbers.

Recently, the amount of allowed wild fish harvesting has been decreased, consequently increasing caviar prices. In September 2005, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service banned the import of Caspian Sea Beluga caviar, to protect the endangered Beluga sturgeon; a month later, the ban included Beluga caviar from the entire Black Sea basin. In January 2006, CITES, the convention for trade in endangered species, announced they were "unable to approve the [caviar] export quotas" for 2006 from wild fish stocks. In January 2007, this ban was partly lifted, allowing the sale of 96 tons of caviar, 15% below the official 2005 level.

Caviar is traditionally served with horn, wood, gold, nacre, or plastic utensils. Commercial caviar production normally needs stunning the fish (usually by clubbing its head) and extracting the ovaries; some commercial fish farmers are experimenting with surgically removing roe from living sturgeon, allowing the females to continue producing more roe during their lives.

In Scandinavia, a significantly cheaper version of caviar, made from smoked cod roe, is sold in tubes as a sandwich filling. Black and red colored lumpsucker caviars are sold in small glass jars to make a tasty and cheap replacement for sturgeon caviar. Caviars from the burbot, the vendace, and the common whitefish are available in Finland, in their natural form, as an alternative to sturgeon caviar. Some gourmets regard burbot caviar as a delicacy outranking Beluga caviar in taste and flavour[citation needed], at a fraction of the price. The retail price of burbot caviar in Finland is about 30 €/kg.[citation needed]. When sold outside Scandinavia in stores such as IKEA's Swedish food market, the product is referred to as creamed smoked roe.

In the vegetarian foodstuffs market, Algae-based imitation caviar is produced and sold as a caviar alternative.

Given its high price in the West, caviar is synonymous with luxury and wealth. In Russia and other Eastern European cultures, though still expensive, caviar is commonly served at holiday feasts, weddings, and other festive occasions. Sturgeon-derived caviar is generally not eaten by Jews who keep kosher, because sturgeon lacks scales and thus is not considered kosher; however, this does not apply to every roe-yielding fish species. In Islam all sea or river animals such as fish are lawful and halal which applies to the sturgeon as well as its caviar (depending on which school of practice). In Hong Kong and Japan, caviar may be found on sushi and is often very affordable.