Red caviar is a natural superfood and a delicious delicacy. It contains a concentration of nutrients and is highly appreciated by consumers. The product is not cheap, and its demand is stable, so unscrupulous manufacturers do not miss the opportunity to earn money by passing off counterfeit products as natural products.
What should you pay attention to when choosing red caviar?
Unfortunately, you can find fake red caviar even on the shelves of large chain stores – salmon caviar is often given as fake, made from algae or gelatin and fish oil. When buying, it is almost impossible to identify a fake – visually, a fake look exactly like a natural product. But still, there are some criteria that you should pay attention to.
The first criterion when choosing red caviar is the manufacturer. If the caviar is not produced at the place of fish extraction, then at best, it is caviar from frozen ovaries delivered from the manufacturing plant. The freshest and highest quality caviar is packed directly at the fishery. And the closer the plant is to the water area where salmon is caught, the better.
Let’s take the Far Eastern company Vostochny Bereg/Bering seafood. The plant is located right on the coast northeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Kamchatka is the birthplace of the Pacific salmon, and the best raw materials are delivered from this fantastic corner of the planet. The Vostochny Bereg/Bering seafood company works on the principle of a complete cycle – salmon and red caviar are harvested, processed, and packaged here.
The second important criterion when choosing salmon caviar is the production date. Can only produce the highest quality product during the salmon spawning season. If on a jar of red caviar there is a production date that does not coincide with the spawning period of a particular type of fish, then such caviar is most likely also made from frozen raw materials. The disadvantages of this type of production are that, when re-frozen, caviar loses its valuable properties and taste.
Chum salmon and pink salmon harvested by the Vostochny Bereg/Bering Seafood company spawn from July to August. The company operates around the clock during this period and processes up to six hundred tons of salmon fish. It takes no more than 4 hours from fishing to shock the freezing of caviar, so the products from the factory are of high quality and fresh. At the same time, thanks to innovative packaging solutions, it is possible to avoid the addition of preservatives.
If you have already bought red caviar and have doubts about its quality, then the easiest and most reliable way to check it is to pour boiling water over a couple of eggs. In natural salmon caviar, the protein will curl up and turn white. A fake will not change color. But is it worth the risk of choosing untested products if you can be guaranteed to get high-quality and fresh salmon roe from the manufacturing plant? Each buyer will answer this question for himself.
