As more and more caviar makes its way into the supermarket, people are losing the sense of what true high-quality caviar should taste like. For the record, the really good stuff comes from Iran or Russia.
Three varieties of caviar can be purchased in atores: beluga, sevruga and oscietra. The names refer to the Sturgion types. Beluga caviar is the largest and Sevruga the smallest. The mid-sized Oscietra Sturgion eggs have the nuttiest flavor of the three. Unfortunately, extinction threatens many of the wild. Sturgion and caviar harvesting is permitted only under very severely restricted laws. Caviar raised in capitivity lacks the distinct taste of the wild product – and in really bad cases retains a taste of salt water. Even worse, many producers put out fake caviar, filling broken egg shells with a chemically produced material and adding a fake fish aroma.