Caviar

This article is about sturgeon roe. For other uses, see Caviar (disambiguation).

"Black caviar" redirects here. For the Australian racehorse, see Black Caviar (horse).

Salmon roe (left) and sturgeon caviar (right) served with mother of pearl caviar spoons to avoid tainting the taste of the caviar.

Ossetra caviar, salmon creme fraiche, potato shallot croquette, basil oil, egg whites and yolks

Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. According to the Code Alimentaire of United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, § 68 appendix V, caviar is defined as "the product made from fish-eggs of the Acipenseridae family by treating with food-grade salt". "Fish eggs" is defined as "non-ovulated eggs separated from the connective tissue of the ovaries" or "ovulated eggs from aquacultured sturgeons".

The roe can be "fresh" (non-pasteurized) or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value.

Traditionally the designation caviar is only used for sturgeon roe from the wild sturgeon species living in the Caspian and Black Sea (Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga caviars). These caviar varieties, according to their quality (based on flavour, size, consistency and colour) can reach (February 2009) prices between $8,000 and $16,000 per kilo, and are associated with gourmet and Haute cuisine environments.

Depending on specific national laws, the name caviar may also be used to describe the roe of other fish such as salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish, whitefish, and other species of sturgeon. The term is also used to describe dishes that are perceived to resemble caviar, such as "eggplant caviar" (made from eggplant / aubergine) and "Texas caviar" (made from black-eyed peas).

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, roe from any fish not belonging to the Acipenseriformes species (including Acipenseridae, or sturgeon stricto sensu, and Polyodontidae or paddlefish) are not caviar, but "substitutes of caviar". This position is also adopted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the United States Customs Service, and the Republic of France.

Caviar is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'œuvres. It is also considered by some to be a condiment and can be used in place of salt or seasonings.

Varieties

Russian and Iranian Caviar tins: Beluga to the left, Ossetra in the middle, Sevruga to the right.

A beluga caviar presentation

Caviar is simply sieved and lightly salted Sturgeon roe. The four main types of caviar are Beluga, Sterlet, Ossetra, and Sevruga. The rarest and costliest is from the beluga sturgeon that swim in the Caspian Sea, which is bordered by Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Wild caviar production has now survived only in Azerbaijan and Iran as Russia maintains a self-imposed ban on caviar trade from wild sturgeon. Beluga caviar is prized for its soft, extremely large (pea-size) eggs. It can range in color from pale silver-gray to black. It is followed by the small golden sterlet caviar which is rare and was once reserved for Russian czars, Iranian shahs and Austrian emperors. Next in quality is the medium-sized, gray to brownish osetra (ossetra), and the last in the quality ranking is smaller, gray sevruga caviar.

Caviar bearing the word malossol on its label indicates that the roe is preserved with a minimum amount of salt, malossol being the Russian for "little salt." Caviar is extremely perishable and must be refrigerated immediately until consumption. Pasteurized caviar is roe that has been partially cooked, thereby giving the eggs a slightly different texture. It is less perishable and may not require refrigeration before opening. Pressed caviar is composed of damaged or fragile eggs and can be a combination of several different roes. It is specially treated, salted, and pressed. Information on how to handle purchased caviar can be found on the label. Although a spoonful of caviar supplies the adult daily requirement of vitamin B-12 it is also high in cholesterol and salt.

The caviar of the sturgeon is the most expensive. Currently, dwindling fishing yields as a result of 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 (other than for use in scientific research) was banned in Russia in 2007 but resumed in 2010, limited to 150 kg (330 lbs) (see below).

Other popular and much less expensive types of roe, sometimes presented as caviar, include lumpfish caviar (tiny, hard, artificially coloured black or red eggs), whitefish caviar (also called American Golden) with its small yellow-gold eggs and salmon or red caviar (medium-size, pale orange to deep red eggs). Carp caviar is becoming increasingly popular in the United States due to carp's ability to lay millions of eggs a year, which makes it abundant and cheap.

Ecology

Sturgeon

Black Beluga caviar.

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 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 an organic certification.

Current aquaculture of sturgeon is an economically viable means of sustainable, commercial caviar production, especially in Italy, Spain, France, Uruguay, the Middle East 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. In July 2010, Russia and some other CIS countries agreed to restart the export of caviar. The 2010 quotas allow for the export of three tonnes of beluga, 17 tonnes of sevruga and 27 tonnes of osetra. In September 2010, Kazakhstan announced it would launch a state monopoly brand named Zhaik Balyk, after the Kazakh word for the Ural River. Under the CITES agreement, Kazakhstan has the right to produce 13 out of the 80 tonnes of sturgeon exports allowed up until February 28, 2011.

The Caspian Sea produces 90 percent of the world's caviar. Over-fishing and smuggling as well as pollution caused by sewage entry into the Caspian Sea have considerably reduced the sea's sturgeon population.

Production

Trout roe with bread.

Commercial caviar production historically involved stunning the fish (usually by clubbing its head) and extracting the ovaries.

Nowadays most commercial fish farmers extract the caviar from the sturgeon surgically (compare caesarean section) and then stitch up the wound to keep the sturgeon alive, allowing the females to continue producing more roe during their lives. Caesarean sections to harvest immature caviar, however, generally result in reduced fertility or often in death. In many countries this procedure is prohibited by law (e.g. Germany, § 6 Tierschutzgesetz).

Other farmers use a process called "stripping", which extracts the caviar from the fish without surgical intervention. This is the most humane approach towards fish that is presently available but not all farmers use it due to the lack of knowledge in this field.

Iran is the world's largest producer and exporter of caviar (annual exports of more than 300 metric tons), followed by Russia.

Italy has begun to produce farmed caviar and today is one of the largest producers of farmed caviar in the world.

At least two caviar farms exist in the Persian Gulf area. Caviar Court, in Dammam, Saudi Arabia opened in 2001 and began harvesting caviar in 2007. It was producing about five tons per year in 2011. A second, larger facility is expected to produce as much as 35 tons per year beginning in 2015. This farm, Royal Caviar Company, in Abu Dhabi was built by the Bin Salem Group.

Alternatives and imitation

Seven different kinds of caviar substitutes

Typical Swedish sandwich with hard-boiled eggs and cod roe from a tube

In Scandinavia and Finland, a significantly cheaper version of caviar, made from mashed and smoked cod roe (smörgåskaviar meaning "sandwich caviar"), is sold in tubes as a sandwich spread. When sold outside Scandinavia, the product is referred to as creamed smoked roe or in French as Caviar de Lysekil, named after the Swedish coastal town of Lysekil from which this type of caviar may have originated.

An obvious sturgeon caviar imitation is Danish or German black coloured lumpsucker caviar, which is sold throughout Europe in small glass jars. It can also be found coloured red. A more expensive sturgeon caviar alternative sold in Sweden and Finland is caviar from the vendace. In Finland caviars from the burbot and the common whitefish are also sold.

In some eastern European countries, such as Ukraine and Russia, "Ikra" also refers to an eggplant or squash spread which is often called "poor man's caviar."^{[citation needed]} In England this is known as Aubergine Caviar. Similarly, "Texas caviar"—created by Helen Corbitt in 1940—is a type of salad or dip made from whole black-eyed peas. In the United Kingdom, "Yorkshire caviar" is a playful term for mushy peas, in reference to the stereotype of Yorkshiremen as dour folk who won't spend money on luxuries.

In the vegetarian foodstuffs market, algae-based imitation caviar is produced and sold as a caviar alternative. Also, in Russia an imitation caviar technology has been in development since the late 60s, and currently progressed to the point where it can faithfully imitate the caviar texture and more-or-less reasonably mimic the taste. This caviar is made from the cooked and pureed sturgeon or salmon meat mixed with fish gelatin and extruded into the oil bath to form individual "eggs" which are then treated to create a thin and hard shell responsible for the popping sensation.

Cultural

Ikura (salmon roe) on a sushi roll

Given its high price in the West, caviar is associated 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. In Russia, the concept generally includes both sturgeon roe (black caviar) and salmon roe (red caviar), the former not necessarily superior to the latter.

Sturgeon-derived caviar is not eaten by some Kosher-observant Jews, because sturgeon possess ganoid scales instead of the usual ctenoid and cycloid scales (see Kosher animals). There is a discussion of its status in Halacha, since the scales will come off if soaked in lye; however, this does not apply to every roe-yielding fish species. Kosher-observant Conservative Jews, on the other hand, may or may not observe these rules, as the responsa are not clear on this point.

In Sunni Islam generally all sea or river animals such as fish are lawful and halal, which applies to the sturgeon as well as its caviar. The Ja'fari school of jurisprudence that predominates in Twelver Shia Islam, however, generally follows the same rule as the Jewish Kashrut (i.e. that seafood must have fins and scales) with the notable exception of shrimp, and most observant Twelvers do not eat caviar; this is despite the fact that majority-Twelver Iran is a primary center of the sturgeon-fishing industry and the world's largest exporter of caviar.

In East Asia, "caviar" made from caplin roe may be found on sushi and is often very affordable. Salmon roe is called "ikura" in Japanese, a derivative of the Russian, "ikra" (caviar).

Caviar is also seen as a common offering to the feline species in the ancient Egyptian Bast cult.^{[citation needed]}

Nutritional information

1 Tbsp of caviar (16g) contains:

• Calories: 42
• Fat(g): 2.86
• Carbohydrates(g): 0.64
• Fibers(g): 0
• Protein(g): 3.94
• Cholesterol(mg): 94

See also

• Sturgeon
• Salmon

Bibliography

Peter G. Rebeiz, Caviar - a magic history, ISBN 978-88-6373-103-3, Sagep Editori, Genova, Italy, 2010.

External links

http://www.brunchcaviar.com/=web site devoted to caviar and its preparation in french and international cuisine

• How To Serve Caviar
• Cooking For Engineers: Caviar
• A History of Smith Bros. branded whitefish caviar (1920 - 1989) (USA)
• Stolt Sea Farm
• Sturgeon population in Hudson River - Once-Endangered Sturgeon Rebounding in Hudson River, Study Says
• Caspian caviar in peril
• Russian caviar: an old fish learns some new tricks