Caviar history

How was caviar discovered?

It was first harvested by the fishermen fishing in the Caspian sea. Mostly by Russian and Iranian locals who lived and worked in the Caspian sea. It was discovered that the different species of Sturgeon fish such as Sevruga and Beluga have non-fertilized eggs inside their stomach. These bubble shaped eggs had salty and creamy taste that attracted the attention of the local fishermen. There are more than 25 types of Sturgeon that caviar is extracted from them.

Before 19th century Caviar was counted as the food of luxury that mostly served in the royal cuisine. Americans on the other hand used to serve Caviar for free in the early 19th century. The salty taste encouraged the thirst in the consumers which required more use of water afterwards. At the beginning a German business man first exported caviar to Europe which was sold to royals with extremely high price. Soon after other businessmen followed his path and started to export caviar to Europe which eventually made the US the largest exported of Caviar.

Great Caviar Business

At early 20th century, Caviar started to be exported back to US. Basically many of the caviar that was imported to Europe was re-packaged and shipped back to US with different labels. It was claimed that the imported Caviar to the US especially the Beluga is coming from the Russian rivers. It was later reported that around 90 percent of the caviar imported to the US was initially exported from US. This was due to the fact that the Caviar labeled as Russian Caviar was known as the premium caviar type in the US. This matter led to the Caviar to be over fished to the point of extinction in the US. All mentioned led to exponential increase in the price of the caviar especially beluga and sevruga type. Still in the 21st century, more than half of the Caviar types are in serious danger of extinction.

Persian Caviar

Caviar was first discovered in the northern part of Iran, south beach of the Caspian sea. Back in 4th century, locals believed that the caviar has medical substances which was used to treat some illnesses at that time. Meanwhile at the north beach of the Caspian sea, Caviar was used by Russian royals as it was known as the great source of energy as it is known today. Therefore, although Iranian were known to salt the roe from the beginning, Russian are known define the Caviar as the ingredient of luxury.

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