Caviar is often associated with holiday festivities.  Here’s a little history about the origins and current production of sturgeon fish caviar.

Long associated with the indulgent lifestyle led by European monarchy and other members of Europe’s ruling classes, caviar boasts a particularly strong historic connection with the incalculably wealthy members of the Russian Imperial Court. The strength of that historic connection is only natural, as sturgeon fish caviar originating in the slightly saline waters of the Caspian Sea shared by Russia and Iran came to be not only highly prized but almost revered by the Russian Tsars and Tsaritsas, eventually becoming a significant part of their diet.

The Russians weren’t the only early caviar devotees, however. The Persians, whose country stretched across the Caspian’s sparkling southern shores, were the first to prepare and delight in sturgeon fish caviar, attributing an assortment of medicinal powers to the delicacy. In fact, the name “caviar” is derived from the word “khav-yar,” meaning “cake of power” or “cake of strength” in Persian.

As time passed, caviar came to be considered the quintessential indulgence in nearly every European culture. For example, several centuries ago, British kings reserved the consumption of sturgeon and their roe to members of the royalty. In short, this superb culinary indulgence has captured the hearts and palates of discriminating connoisseurs throughout the world for more than two thousand years.

No matter which species of sturgeon produce the roe – beluga, sterlet, osetra (also spelled ossetra) or sevruga – caviar has always been a highly coveted symbol of wealth, opulence and power surrounded by Old World traditions and mystique. Although Eastern hemisphere sturgeon are also native to the Black Sea and, to a much lesser degree, the Adriatic Sea and several Siberian and Chinese rivers, the primary source of wild sturgeon and their roe has always been the Caspian Sea.

Unfortunately, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial overfishing and caviar’s exceptional popularity among the wealthy led to a precipitous decline in the Caspian’s sturgeon population. In an interesting turn of events, the American caviar industry began to burgeon at almost the same time, focusing at first on the roe of native sturgeon found in the Atlantic seaboard’s Delaware River. American caviar was abundant, especially when compared to the declining availability of roe from the Caspian Sea. In fact, the supply was so plentiful that American sturgeon fish caviar was served in bars and pubs to encourage patrons to drink more alcoholic beverages. American sturgeon roe was frequently fed to pets or even discarded.

By the late 19th century, 90% of the world’s caviar came from American sturgeon roe. American sturgeon fish caviar was exported to a large number of countries, sometimes being sold deceptively as “Russian caviar.” Sadly, history repeated itself, as it so often does. Overfishing caused the depletion of wild American sturgeon, just as it did with the sturgeon native to the Caspian Sea. As a result, commercial sturgeon fishing in the United States was banned in 1906. Eventually the Soviet Union followed suit by restricting commercial sturgeon fishing. Today, the world’s wild sturgeon population is so depleted the fish are recognized as endangered species.

The American caviar industry has, however, made a remarkable comeback from its perch on the brink of disaster. The dearth of Caspian Sea sturgeon and political unrest in Russia and Iran, coupled with refinements in modern aquaculture techniques, now lead many connoisseurs to buy caviar produced in the United States. For example, the flavorful California osetra produced by Tsar Nicoulai Caviar through its sustainable farming techniques is winning praise for its rich, clean taste and full, buttery finish.

Tsar Nicoulai Caviar, Uruguay’s Black River Caviar and Petrossian Caviar all produce superb sturgeon fish caviar worthy of the world’s most discriminating palates by successfully employing responsible, sustainable sturgeon farming methods. Thanks to producers like these, caviar’s luxury and opulence can continue to be savored despite the near-extinction of wild sturgeon.

I’ve been attending the NASFT Fancy Food Show since I was a child. My great Uncle was in the candy business (we called it the candy show back then) and always got my family in for a day of total indulgence!  

Now, we attend the Fancy Food Show with a different agenda. Though I always enjoy checking out all the new products in every category, my focus is finding new products to offer our clients.

Many of the wonderful products shown at the Fancy Food Show don’t really fit our product line of luxury and French foods; however, there were a few worth considering.  

More Than Gourmet offers high quality stock and demi-glace that assists chefs and home cooks in making delicious sauces. Stocks are available in veal, venison, lamb, chicken, turkey, duck, seafood, vegetable and mushroom. Though I frequently make my own stock (even those that take 48 hours), there are times when it would be so convenient to be able to start my sauce with a high quality, ready-made stock that only needs to be reconstituted. From there, I can add my shallots, garlic, wine, or whatever, to make the final sauce.  We are waiting for samples, to make sure we like the taste and quality of the stocks and demi-glace, but we are hopeful about this product line!

One of the most innovative products we tasted at the show was a line of savory macaroons. The macaroons were in three flavors, goat cheese, black truffle, and porcini mushroom. These scrumpti0us morsels are not yet on the market, and we hope to be the first to carry them.  

Some additional products we might introduce to our line include escargot, marron glace (candied chestnuts), truffle honey, and French chocolate.  We’d love to hear from you if you have other ideas or requests!  

Somewhat surprisingly, there were no producers of top quality caviar at the show.  There were several “affordable” alternatives, but nothing that we thought measured up to the two brands we currently carry, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar and Black River Caviar.

There were more booths than I remember seeing in past years marketing fresh truffle mushrooms and truffle products.  Since white truffles are no longer in season, and black truffles are at the height of their season, there were several companies with a basket full of beautiful, fragrant black truffles from the Perigord in France.  There were also truffle producers from Oregon and other regions (Oregon truffles are not the same species as Perigord truffles).  Though North Carolina has a growing number of farms cultivated the Perigord variety of black truffles, there were no producers at the show from this region.  

There were only three or four producers featuring foie gras or foie gras products, most of which we already carry on our site.  Notably, Hudson Valley Foie Gras was at the show (they don’t usually exhibit at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, only in New York), serving up fresh seared foie gras, foie gras torchon, duck proscuitto and magret de canard.  They were clearly there to not only sample their wonderful products, but also to reach out to the food community regarding the pending legislation in California, banning the sale of foie gras in the state, beginning in July 2012.  

One of Hudson Valley Foie Gras’ founders, Izzy, was there collecting signatures from those who wanted to help keep Hudson Valley Foie Gras available in California.  Hudson Valley Foie Gras raises their ducks free range, and hand feeds the ducks when it’s time for gavage. The company believes they should be excluded from the ban, based on the measures they have taken to keep the birds healthy, comfortable and stress free.  

A general observation about the 2010 San Francisco Fancy Food Show was the large number of gluten free foods being offered.  I don’t remember ever seeing so many foods marketed as being gluten free, but this year they were everywhere!  As always, there were a host of olive oils, dressings, salsas, chocolate and candy and of course cheese.  

We thoroughly enjoyed the show as we always do, and hope to soon be featuring some of the newly found French food and luxury products on our website.

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/caviar.html Learn about american caviar and western caviar before you buy caviar or give a caviar gift.

Caviar, or sturgeon roe, typically comes from one of three species of sturgeon: beluga, the largest of the sturgeon, osetra, the second largest of the fish, or sevruga.

All wild sturgeon are endangered; therefore, we are offering caviar produced through sustainable farming techniques. We have chosen suppliers that are pioneers in the production of sustainable caviar and produce exceptionally good quality caviar—Tsar Nicoulai and Black River Caviar. Our flavorful osetra (also spelled ossetra) caviar has a fresh, clean taste with a creamy finish.

Tsar Nicoulai is the worldwide pioneer of sustainable California caviar and producers of the acclaimed California Estate Osetra. 

Learn about different types of american caviar before you buy caviar or give a caviar gift.

Caviar, or sturgeon roe, typically comes from one of three species of sturgeon: beluga, the largest of the sturgeon, osetra, the second largest of the fish, or sevruga.

All wild sturgeon are endangered; therefore, we are offering caviar produced through sustainable farming techniques. We have chosen suppliers that are pioneers in the production of sustainable caviar and produce exceptionally good quality caviar—Tsar Nicoulai and Black River Caviar. Our flavorful osetra (also spelled ossetra) caviar has a fresh, clean taste with a creamy finish.

Tsar Nicoulai is the worldwide pioneer of sustainable California caviar and producers of the acclaimed California Estate Osetra.

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/caviar.html Learn about american caviar and western caviar before you buy caviar or give a caviar gift.

Caviar, or sturgeon roe, typically comes from one of three species of sturgeon: beluga, the largest of the sturgeon, osetra, the second largest of the fish, or sevruga.

All wild sturgeon are endangered; therefore, we are offering caviar produced through sustainable farming techniques. We have chosen suppliers that are pioneers in the production of sustainable caviar and produce exceptionally good quality caviar—Tsar Nicoulai and Black River Caviar. Our flavorful osetra (also spelled ossetra) caviar has a fresh, clean taste with a creamy finish.

Tsar Nicoulai is the worldwide pioneer of sustainable California caviar and producers of the acclaimed California Estate Osetra. 

http://www.enjoyfoiegras.com/products/caviar.html Learn about american caviar and western caviar before you buy caviar or give a caviar gift.  

Caviar, or sturgeon roe, typically comes from one of three species of sturgeon: beluga, the largest of the sturgeon, osetra, the second largest of the fish, or sevruga.

All wild sturgeon are endangered; therefore, we are offering caviar produced through sustainable farming techniques. We have chosen suppliers that are pioneers in the production of sustainable caviar and produce exceptionally good quality caviar—Tsar Nicoulai and Black River Caviar. Our flavorful osetra (also spelled ossetra) caviar has a fresh, clean taste with a creamy finish.

Tsar Nicoulai is the worldwide pioneer of sustainable California caviar and producers of the acclaimed California Estate Osetra.  This video shows a tasting of Tsar Nicoulai Reserve California Estate Osetra Caviar.

Yesterday, while shooting videos for YouTube, I had the chance to taste four Tsar Nicoulai caviar products: TNC Classic Caviar, California Estate Osetra Caviar, Select California Estate Osetra Caviar, and Reserve California Estate Osetra Caviar.  It was really interesting to see and taste the differences.  While all four types of caviar were very tasty–fresh and creamy, I found that my preference was in the exact order of quality and price.  I liked the Reserve California Osetra (Tsar Nicoulai’s top California Osetra product) the most, and the TNC Classic Caviar (Tsar Nicoulai’s most affordable option) the least.

I even did a blind taste test to verify my preferences.  Tasting the products out of order and with eyes closed (with the help of my husband), I was able to correctly identify each type of caviar by the firmness of the eggs, size of eggs, and flavor.

Don’t get me wrong.  I would be happy to be served any of the four types of caviar.  Had I not tasted them side by side with intense concentration, I’m not sure I could have said which was which.  And of course, taste is such a personal thing.  Someone else might have preferred any of the four over the others.

I’ll try to describe the differences I observed.

TNC Classic Malossol Caviar: The eggs were the least firm of the four types of caviar.  The medium sized eggs were dark charcoal in color.  I would tend to use this lower-priced product for recipes, versus straight out of the jar… It was perfectly adequate, but not as smooth and defined as the California Estate Osetras.

California Estate Osetra Caviar: This caviar was the most black in color of the four, with egg size about the same as the TNC (medium).  Slightly firmer, with a more intense caviar flavor.  Very good!

Select California Estate Osetra: The caviar has a larger bead size and a light charcoal color.  The eggs were firm, and the flavor wonderful, smooth and creamy.  This caviar was noticeably smoother than the first two.  A really delicious product.

Reserve California Estate Osetra: The Reserve was definitely my favorite.  With the largest bead size, and a light beige/charcoal color (the lightest in color of the four), this caviar is magnificent.  It was very smooth and clean.  The eggs seemed the most firm and defined and had the most “pop”.

Tsar Nicloulai is a pioneer in the production of sustainable caviar and has done a very fine job of supplying an excellent product, at reasonable prices, without further endangering sturgeon (all wild sturgeon are endangered).  I think it’s great that there are a range of products to suit different palates, purposes and budgets.  For example, the price of the TNC Classic Caviar is half that of the California Estate Osetra, and one third the price of the Reserve.

There are other sustainable caviar products on the market, including Black River Caviar, a company which imported Siberian sturgeon fertilized roe in 1995 and produces a magnificent ossetra Malossol caviar from sturgeon “wild raised” in Uruguay.  The price of Black River Caviar is comparable to Tsar Nicoulai’s premium California Osetra.

If you enjoy caviar, join chefs and connoisseurs around the world who have chosen sustainable caviar as their caviar of choice.