Caviar, All About Fish on the Worldwide Gourmet

Only the pearly black roe of the sturgeon can rightly be called caviar.

Along with truffles and saffron, it's one of the three most expensive products on earth. Each variety has its own particular physical and gustatory qualities. The roe (or eggs) extracted from the female is immediately weighed, washed, filtered, salted and put into jars. Caviar from the fish farms of the Abitibi region has won over Quebec's greatest chefs. The male comes up the river to spawn every two years and the females only once every four to seven years, making caviar not only an exceptional product, but a rare one.

Did you know...
Sturgeons are the most valuable fish of the world. Twenty five species and sub-species of sturgeons have been identified so far, of which only three species produce caviar, all living in the Caspian Sea. The specifications of these valuable Fishes are as follows:

Beluga (Huso Huso)
Beluga usually weighs between 75-100 Kilograms and is 2 meters long. It produces about 20 Kilograms of Beluga Caviar and has a life expectancy of about 100 years. Beluga Caviar has a dark to light gray color, and is large with a thin shell.

Asetra (Acipenser sp.)
Asetra on the average, weighs 20 Kilograms, is 1.5 meters long, produces 4-7 Kilograms of Asetra Caviar, and can live up to 50 years. The Asetra Caviar comes in dark to light gray and golden colors and has a delicious taste.

Sevrugra (Acipenser Stellatus)
Sevruga has an average weight of 10 Kilograms, and is 1-1.40 meters long, produces about 3 Kilograms of Sevruga Caviar, and can live up to 30 years. Sevruga Caviar is dark gray, has small grains and a delicious taste.

Pressed Caviar
These are compressed grains. More mature and collected at the end of the fishing season, its flavour is strong and fruity and much appreciated by connoisseurs. The grains are placed into a very salty hot brine, then the mixture is drained in bags that are tightly pressed. “Pressed caviar” appears on the labels. It is eaten at room temperature.

Malossol Caviar
Fresh canned malossol (Russian for “little salt”) caviar is made with a brine that does not exceed 4% salt. Its salting time is extremely short. This grain caviar does not keep very long and must be kept cold. The jar will include the mention “malossol.”

Pasteurized Caviar
Some people feel that pasteurization slightly damages the flavour of caviar, but it does allow consumers to have access to grain caviar with little salt that keeps a long time (one to three years); it is sold in small glass jars.

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How to serve caviar
Served plain, caviar is usually offered Russian style, that is, with blini (small pancakes), a little sour cream and glasses of ice-cold vodka

or accompanied by lightly buttered toast points.

Caviar is eaten with a spoon – it must not be silver, because it will oxidize quickly and alter the flavour.

To fully appreciate the flavour of caviar, we strongly recommend that you forego adding lemon and other garnishes.

Storing

An unopened jar of caviar can be kept in the refrigerator for a month. It is very important never to freeze caviar. Open the jar only when ready to serve. Once opened, it must be eaten up quickly.