Caviar is an expensive delicacy that people have been eating for thousands of years, but is it eaten alive?
Caviar might be taken from fish, but it’s actually composed of unfertilized eggs from different types of sturgeon. In fact, the majority of caviar comes from dead fish. At no point is caviar actually ‘alive’.
Read on to learn more about the interesting delicacy that is caviar.
Under The Sea
It’s not immediately obvious what caviar is, although most people know it’s an expensive delicacy. It has a stigma attached to it, and many people assume it’s exclusively for the super-rich to consume.
Caviar is actually made up of unfertilized fish eggs, taken exclusively from different types of sturgeon. These fish populate waters all around the world, but certain locations yield finer caviar.
The most expensive and sought-after caviar is taken from the beluga sturgeon. This fish is actually critically endangered, having been overfished for decades.
There have been numerous regulations and laws put in place to protect the beluga sturgeon, but fishing still occurs. At times, fishing has been suspended in certain places, to allow the fish to repopulate.
Beluga caviar is so sought after and so rare that it actually holds the title for the most expensive caviar ever sold.
According to Guinness World Records, a single kilo of beluga caviar sold for thirty-four thousand dollars. It was taken from a rare albino sturgeon, estimated to be some sixty years of age.
It’s a very lengthy process; female beluga sturgeon don’t mature for at least twenty-five years. It’s at this point that they start to produce the prized caviar.
However, the majority of caviar is obtained from dead fish. When they’re pulled from the ocean, they’re gutted as part of the preservation process, and the eggs and retrieved.
Although, there are some that will take the caviar – the eggs – from a live fish. It’s a more barbaric process, but it involves slicing open the fish whilst it’s alive, and drawing out the eggs.
While more brutal, this method reportedly yields fresher caviar.
You Don’t Know Until You Try
Admittedly, caviar is one of those products that people are reluctant to try. It has a strange appearance, one that instantly makes you aware of exactly what you’re eating.
It’s been dubbed black gold, as it mostly takes on a dark, shining hue. When you eat caviar, it’s said to have a very strange consistency and feel in the mouth.
What starts off as firm, resistant balls will transition into a creamier texture, said to almost be like butter in your mouth. Although, to get to the butter-soft consistency, the eggs quite literally have to pop.
Reportedly, caviar bears a salty, briny taste – it’s unmistakably taken from the ocean.
If you want to taste and try caviar for yourself, are you going to have to break the bank to do it? You might be surprised, but it isn’t all huge sums of money when it comes to caviar.
Technically, fish eggs are termed ‘roe’. You can take roe from almost any fish, but caviar comes from sturgeon.
So, you can take the eggs of fish like salmon or trout, and you’re eating something very close to caviar. You can buy jars of roe for as little as ten dollars a jar in the supermarket.
In 2012, a British newspaper posted an article discussing the cheapest caviar the world had ever really seen. It was a roe that was massively popular in Japan, taken from the capelin fish.
How much did it cost? Well, a single one hundred gram jar cost little more than three dollars.
It’s an insight into the cost spectrum of this luxurious delicacy. While it can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, you can experience it for less than ten bucks.
Although, as is the case with many fine foods, you get what you pay for. If you opt for a supermarket-bought variant, you’ll notice it wouldn’t be as good as restaurant-quality caviar.
As time goes on, caviar will likely become rarer and rarer, as overfishing continues. While there are countries looking into sustainable farming, it’s a lengthy process, owing to the age requirements of the sturgeon.
This will obviously drive the price up exponentially, so the finest caviar will once again be reserved for the super-rich.
Although, that’s how it always used to be. Hundreds of years ago, caviar was reserved strictly for royal consumption.
If the price went up any more, it’d likely return to that standard.