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Entertaining and Educating Our Customers

Caviar Monthly is an informative, entertaining newsletter.

Learn about caviar nutrition, culture, and history.

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Curent Issue

Culture

A booming and uncontrollable black market in caviar across Europe is pushing many sturgeon species in Asia and Europe towards extinction. The situation is so extreme that, according to UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the estimated annual worth of legal caviar trade worldwide is $100 million, while the estimated annual worth of caviar on the black market is $500 million.

History

The precious fish eggs that have come to be synonymous with wealth and luxuriousness were not always as pricey and rare as they are today. One kilogram, or 2.1 pounds, of French caviar cost less than 20 cents in 1899.

Nutrition

Caviar is a rich source of vitamins A and D, very long-chain fatty acids, and zinc. These vitamins and minerals are especially important for pregnant women because deficiencies of these compounds may cause birth defects.

What is Caviar?

Most commonly, caviar is salted fish eggs taken immediately from the fish during spawning season. Different countries use different harvest techniques, different salts, in different quantities. The end product should taste buttery with fresh, clean flavors of the sea, not overly fishy or salty.

Caviar is now made on 4 continents, and the definitions and techniques vary widely. The Little Pearl has tested every major caviar making method and invented several others in our search for the world's best caviar making technique. Here are a few definitions to help you understand this simple, but often confusing product:

Biologically, caviar is the unfertilized eggs of fish. Roe is fertilized.

The FDA ingredients list for caviar reads (roe, salt.) "Roe" in this case means unsalted fish eggs, not fertilized fish eggs gathered in the stream bed.

French law states: if the name simply says caviar, it's from sturgeon. Caviar from other fish must list the species name, such as "salmon caviar."

This definition has carried over to the U.S. and the FDA says when the word caviar is used alone on a label it means the eggs are from sturgeon: "the name "caviar" unqualified may be applied only to the eggs of the sturgeon prepared by a special process."

In Russia, sturgeon caviar is often referred to as black caviar, and salmon caviar is referred to as red caviar.

However, in much of northern Europe, black and red caviar are dyed lumpfish, capelin, or whitefish caviar.