StarTimesNigeria

27 Oct 2013

CAVIARS (Expensive Luxury Fish Eggs): One of the world's most expensive delicacies

Caviar is considered a luxury delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread, they go well with Champagnes too. In 2012, caviar sold for $2,500 per pound, or $3,000 to $5,500 per kilo.

Caviar, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, is a product made from salt-cured fish-eggs of the
Acipenseridae family. The roe can be "fresh" (non-pasteurized) or pasteurized , with pasteurization reducing its culinary and economic value.

The four main types of caviar are Beluga, Sterlet , Ossetra , and Sevruga. The rarest and costliest is from beluga sturgeon that swim in the Caspian Sea, which is bordered by Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Wild caviar production was suspended in Russia between 2008 and 2011 to allow wild stocks to replenish. Azerbaijan and Iran also allow the fishing of sturgeon off their coasts 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, Iranian and Austrian royalty. Next in quality is the
medium-sized, gray to brownish osetra (ossetra), and the last in the quality ranking is smaller, gray sevruga caviar.

Cheaper alternatives have been developed from the roe of whitefish and the North Atlantic salmon. In the wake of
overfishing, the harvest and sale of black caviar was banned in Russia in 2007 but resumed in 2010, limited to 150 kg (330 lbs).

If you are going to spend a fortune on this luxurious treat, we recommend you brush up on how to serve and taste
caviar.

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