Caviar, the Imperial Heritage Way

The mystique and luxury of caviar dates back to the 4th Century B.C. In records, the Greek philosopher Aristotle described this delicacy as the eggs of the sturgeon, heralded into banquets amongst trumpets and flowers.
However, the Persians were the first to prepare and savour sturgeon roe. The word “caviar” actually comes from the Persian word “khav-yar”, which means “cake of strength”, as many medicinal powers were attributed to caviar. Sturgeon roe has not always been the delicacy that it is today. A long time ago, caviar was eaten by the fishermen at the Caspian Sea or in American saloons as an appetiser – mainly because of its salty taste – to encourage thirst.

Of course, without refrigeration, caviar is quickly spoiled. It is exactly this perishability that made caviar so exclusive, and it was precisely this exclusivity that fascinated the Tzars – among whom Peter The Great and other members of the Romanov family – and the higher echelons of these days. It is an undeniable fact that Russia and the Russian Tsars catapulted Caviar into the world of utter luxury.

Over the years, sturgeon eggs have become much more popular among the upper class of European society. By the Middle Ages, the British Kings reserved all the sturgeon for their own consumption and knighted it the “Royal Fish,” set aside solely for royalty.

By the mid-1800s, ever-greater quantities of sturgeon were harvested for their eggs, as the aristocracy in Russia and Europe had developed a taste for the “food of the Gods”. Because the popularity of Caviar around the world increased tremendously over the years, overfishing, illegal poaching, and pollution resulted in the depletion of wild sturgeon from what was once a healthy population.

In 1998, the sturgeon came under the protection of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Regulating international trade in sturgeon was essential to preserve the resource for future generations. A couple of years later (around 2011), CITES banned all import and export of wild caviar in an effort to end the unsustainable exploitation of sturgeon species. The introduction of CITES controls in 1998 and customers demanding sustainably produced sturgeon caviar have driven the transformation of the industry into a global sturgeon farming business.

The Tradition of Preparing Caviar

The tradition of preparing caviar has remained the same for thousands of years. The harvesting, preparation, and manufacturing process of caviar is incredibly arduous and follows strict traditional methods.

The birth of caviar begins with the removal of the fish eggs (roe) from the sturgeon. After removal of the egg sack, the roe is carefully sieved, cleaned, rinsed and classified according to size, colour, flavour and texture. In general, the size, flavour and colour of the sturgeon eggs varies depending on whether they are “Beluga”, “Oscietra”, “Baerii” or “Sevruga” varieties. The eggs can be golden, black, brown, dark green or grey. If the classification process is completed, the caviar moves on to the salting phase.

The Salting Process

The salting process is related to the quality of the caviar, so the quantity of added salt is carefully monitored. The main purpose of salting is to preserve the caviar and maintain as much of the ‘fresh’ and traditional flavour as possible. Therefore, the amount of salt used can vary. The most superior type of caviar is prepared “Malossol”, a Russian word for little salt (<3.7%). Malossol traditionally was and still is used to signal consumers that what they are buying is quality in taste and has not been over-salted. Aside from Malossol, there is pressed caviar, semi-preserved or “salted” caviar, and pasteurised caviar. Our Imperial Heritage Caviar is always Malossol, salted merely 2.9%!