Good suggestion by @ybarselah - caviar for so long has purposely been shrouded in a lot of mystery. I think mostly cause the major brands that started were mostly buying their caviar from China and wanted to keep the mystique going. Especially with the laws that allow you to say “Caspian sea oscietra” when you farm it elsewhere, as long as the original sturgeon was from the Caspain sea.
Feel free to ask me anything. About caviar in general, Astrea Caviar, caviar making process, etc.
I LOVE Caviar! Give me a tablespoon and a nice Champagne. We were set to import the caviar from Rio Frio in Granada years ago. They were at the time the only certified organic caviar producers in Europe… That’s what we were told anyway. We saw the whole production, long large vessel pools with river water from Rio Frio flowing in and the harvesting facility. I have a video of Juan and little Nolita trying to catch the trout, somewhere.
sweet. to start off, what are a few things we should know to get the best QPR for caviar? what should we focus on?
for example, if someone likes red wine and is looking to spend $30, i may point them to france, but not burgundy.
What are the more egregious labeling shenanigans employed by the industry? For example, misleading marketing statements regarding the origination or quality of the product?
How do you rank the quality of the Huso Huso caviars from the different regions?
Really difficult to answer this question because most brands obscure their sources or obtain from multiple sources. So you’ll have no idea where you’re buying from. Like right now, Korean farms are coming online and so far quality has been really rough from what i’ve seen. But you won’t really know as most places don’t tell you where it’s coming from.
I would typically I tell people to shy away from caviar packed in glass jars. The seal isn’t good and the eggs don’t keep well. So usually companies know this and put lower quality product in there.
I will say - color does not matter within the species unless it’s jet black. So there’s no reason to pay double for “golden” X/Y/Z. The biggest qualifier of quality within a brand is egg size. For the companies that buy from the large farms the distribution sheet goes out by color and egg size. But most brands don’t tell you egg size either - they just make up weird adjectives like “imperial” etc.
Oscietra
Black
.25mm size egg
.28mm size egg
.30mm size egg
Brown
.25mm size egg
.28mm size egg
.30mm size egg
Golden
.25mm size egg
.28mm size egg
.30mm size egg
it tends to be why we run a pretty high return customer rate (at least based on shopify data). The only consistent measure of quality is the company and their sourcing.
oh man
I once saw a caviar labeled as Israeli Russian Caspian Sea Oscietra at a shop in Beverly Hills. Talk about confusing the heck out of the consumer.
But in general when you make up names for “grades” of caviar, it’s all kind of silly to me. Is a president higher quality than a royal? isn’t an imperial the same as a royal?
Why does egg size matter?
well… the biggest issue is pure beluga is illegal in america outside of one farm in Florida. So no one in america is eating Beluga.
There’s beluga hybrids, but it’s cross bred with one of the smaller sturgeon species (Sevruga - which can be the baerii, stellatus or ruthenus fish) so it’s more of an entry level caviar. Tend to be saltier and smaller eggs because of the cross breeding
more flavor with every bite. All that flavor you’re getting from caviar is due to the fish oil in each egg. So the smaller the egg, the less material inside and you’re consuming more of the outer membrane.
Also bigger eggs usually come from older sturgeon. Older sturgeon produce firmer eggs that hold shape better and last longer.
That’s why you see a lot of glass jarred caviar having small dark eggs and it turns pretty watery at the bottom quickly.
How long is it good for unopened
I’ve kept some in the bottom of my cold garage fridge for a year. It’s still good, but the quality degrades. I’ve noticed no issues with 2-3 months.
so assuming we can get some info on sources (big assumption i know), what’s the sweet spot for size and species? of is that not the way to look at it?
Another good question
Many factors involved
I always say please consume within 6 weeks of receiving. We put our best buy date roughly 2.5 months from packing because we want you to try the caviar as we made it. Some companies push out to 5-6 months but they also use more salt so it’s more of a preservative.
I think nowadays kaluga hybrid is the most dialed in caviar. It’s generally a larger egg with a thicker skin so doesn’t oxidize as quickly and doesn’t absorb TOO much salt (it still does and it’s obvious when higher salt is used). So probably middle grade of kaluga is your best bet.
Opened?
Why is Sturgeon the fish that has the “best” eggs for this prep? Seems like everyone assumes that’s the only way to go, like saying the only wine that matters is Burgundy.
You’re confused. Ice cold vodka for purists, champagne for others, Sake tonight for us, but that’s after a few tins the last week.
I was asking why this fish has the best eggs for caviar, not what to drink with it.