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The most famous and popular red salmon caviar
The most famous representatives of salmon, whose red caviar traditionally decorates the festive table of our compatriots, are chum and Gorbuša… Chum salmon eggs are large, up to 7 mm (only chinook caviar is larger), the taste is traditional, familiar from childhood. The color is reddish-amber with a red gleam, the film is thin and elastic.
Pink salmon caviar practically does not differ from chum salmon, only the grain size is smaller – up to 5 mm. Less often buyers opt for caviar sockeye and kizhucha… Their bright color and delicious taste with a light noble bitterness are not clear to everyone.
Recently, caviar is gaining popularity trouts… Trout spawns in late autumn and winter, and by the winter and spring holidays, including Shrovetide, its caviar is the freshest on the table. Eggs are small, 1-3 mm, color from orange to dark red, depending on the habitat.
Where to buy caviar
The taste of red salmon caviar does not always directly depend on its price. A grocery store near the Kremlin sells caviar of dubious quality at a cost of 10000 rubles per kilogram. You need, as they say, to know the places! It is most likely to find high-quality caviar in small fish shops, where the owner himself does all the preparatory work: he flies to the production site to the fish catching site or meets with suppliers, personally tastes the caviar, chooses the best caviar by the date of production, the presence of a preservative and organoleptic characteristics. Most likely, such caviar will be sold by weight so that the buyer can taste it before buying.
Which salmon caviar to choose
My opinion: it is better not to take caviar in iron and glass jars or buy only goods from a trusted manufacturer. Read the first lines of the ads of fish Internet exchanges. “Buy problem caviar” – such applications are listed in the top. It would seem, why? Having bought expired or simply spoiled caviar for a pittance, a dishonest manufacturer will slightly trick it, solving the fermentation issue with the help of chemicals, and, rolling it into metal cans with the inscription “made in Kamchatka”, sells it through grocery markets, gaining a profit of up to 500% For reference: a machine for seaming cans, which allows you to produce 4000 pieces per day, costs only 25000 rubles.
Fake Red Salmon Caviar
Another type of forgery is full or partial replacement of real caviar with imitated caviar. There is a great variety of the latter (different composition, production technology, quality). Better samples of such caviar both in appearance and in taste are almost impossible to distinguish from real. In this case, not only the size, color, taste are copied, but also the dark point of the embryo inside the egg. Manufacturers in their commercial offers officially declare: “can be mixed with the real one.” And they are absolutely clean before the law – they themselves do not violate it … The cost of a kilogram of high-quality artificial red caviar is about a thousand rubles.
Another difference between high-quality natural salmon caviar and imitated one is the manufacturer. The history of the origin of caviar is of immense and often vital importance. Factory it, or poaching. The latter is often produced and stored without adherence to technology and temperature conditions. In order not to lose the prepared batch of caviar, stored in forest “caches”, fishermen add an excessive amount of a preservative, which is often prohibited in our country, which is a strong allergen and, for some, a poison. If you want to make sure that the caviar in the store is factory-made, ask the seller for certificates of conformity. Although, given the current printing capabilities of conventional copiers, this will not be a guarantee of quality.
Red caviar on rye bread
There is only one way out: look not for caviar, but for a seller. It is he who, cherishing the reputation of his store, and his own, will offer guests only high-quality caviar from the official manufacturer. Compulsory preliminary tasting!
Top 10 brands of salmon caviar see here, and for recipes of quick holiday recipes with red caviar, look for here.