Caviar! The very word conjures images of the high life with champagne, private jets, fancy restaurants and the like. For the connoisseur, the only true caviar comes from the sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. The combination of natural feed and water condition produce a high-quality product.
Here are a few bullet point facts about the sturgeon and caviar.
- Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) wrote that whole sturgeon were brought to the banquet table decorated with garlands of flowers, accompanied by musicians playing flutes and trumpets.
- Henry II of England (1133-89) placed sturgeon under royal protection.
- Edward II (1284-1327) passed an edict on "fishes royal". The monarch retains first right to the fish.
- Beluga sturgeon have been known to swallow whole salmon aquatic birds and baby seals.
- The French Monarchy decreed "le droit d'esturgeon" claiming ownership of all sturgeon in an area bordered by the Seine and Rhône rivers.
- Beluga sturgeon have been known to weigh 1,325 pounds and yield up to 505 of its weight in caviar.
At one point in America, it was so common as to be offered at a bar snack. Alas, the sturgeon were overfished and rivers polluted to the point of near extinction. I have a great book oddly called Caviar by Boechmann and Rebeiz-Nielsen that details the history of the sturgeon and its caviar.
This is a very ancient fish with fossil records dating back to the Jurassic period, about 180 million BC. It has been consumed by humans well before the first records from Egypt in 2400 BC. It has only been since the 1500s that the eggs or roe have been considered a delicacy. Western history is replete with references of sturgeon being enjoyed by the wealthy and noble classes in ancient Rome, Greece, and especially Russia.
My preferred method to enjoy caviar on a potato blini.
Chef Michael Hutchings
