Caviar

Caviar has been considered a delicacy for centuries. Once available only to czars and European aristocrats regaling at lavish turn-of-the-century parties, today it is within anyone's reach — and the story of how is worth telling alongside the serving spoon. This article survives from the original facts library.

What Caviar Is

The word arrived through the Italian caviaro, itself a derivation of the Turkish havyar. Caviar is the salted roe of sturgeon — and while other salted fish eggs are sold and enjoyed, only sturgeon roe may properly be called "true" caviar. Three Caspian Sea sturgeon species traditionally defined the category: beluga, the largest-grained and most celebrated; osetra, nutty and golden-brown; and sevruga, small-grained and intense.

The American Chapter

Historically only caviar from Russia, Eastern Europe and Iran was regarded as top-shelf. That changed when American sturgeon farms began raising white sturgeon for high-quality roe using methods designed to avoid water pollution — a development that mattered doubly, because wild Caspian sturgeon populations collapsed under fishing pressure and international trade in their caviar is now tightly controlled. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service oversees that trade on the American side; farmed white sturgeon caviar is the answer that lets the tradition continue with a clear conscience.

Beyond Sturgeon

Salmon roe deserves its place at the table: large, glossy orange eggs that burst in the mouth, wonderful as an hors d'oeuvre and a fraction of sturgeon prices. (Its natural habitat is atop latkes with smoked salmon — a pairing our salmon recipe collection takes seriously.)

Serving It Properly

Keep it cold, serve it simply: thin slices of good bread or blini, perhaps crème fraîche, and a glass of Champagne or icy vodka. Tradition holds that metal spoons flatter caviar least — mother-of-pearl or bone are the connoisseur's choice — and that the first taste should be unadorned, straight from the spoon. A little ceremony is the point; caviar has carried it well for centuries.

Buying Notes

Fresh caviar should smell of the sea and nothing else, with whole, glossy, distinct eggs that pop cleanly rather than mush. Pasteurized jars keep longer but trade away some of that delicacy; once any tin is opened, press plastic wrap to the surface and finish it within two or three days. As for quantity, an ounce serves two people generously in the traditional style — caviar is an experience measured in spoonfuls, which is exactly why it survived the journey from the czars' tables to the modern pantry with its mystique intact.

For the rest of the library's delicacies, return to Seafood Facts & Info.