CAVIAR

The main types of caviar are Beluga, Sterlet, Kaluga hybrid, American osetra, Ossetra, Siberian sturgeon 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, light brown to rich brown Ossetra, also known as Russian caviar. Others in the quality ranking are the gray sevruga caviar, the Chinese Kaluga caviar, and the American osetra. The Siberian variety with black beads is similar to sevruga and is popular because of its reduced (5 years) harvest period, but it's more briny than other kinds. The Chinese Kaluga hybrid varies in color from dark gray to light golden green and is a close cousin of beluga caviar.

Cheaper alternatives have been developed from the roe of whitefish and the North Atlantic salmon. Other caviar of note is harvested from sturgeon hybrids, such as A. gueldenstaedtii/A. baerii and H. dauricus/A. schrencki, and marketed under brand-specific names such as platinum caviar or as daurenki, depending on the supplier.