A bite of this caviar will cost you $37,000.
But did you know that these fish eggs were once considered poor man's food?
People used to eat them by the bowlful, and in the early 1900’s, they were
given for FREE at American saloons.
So you might be wondering… how did caviar go from a low-class meal to one of the
most expensive delicacies in the world?
Sturgeon, the main source of caviar for thousands of years, has had quite the history.
One of the oldest surviving animals on earth, it is thought to have been
around for nearly 250 million years.
Today, there are 28 different species of this prehistoric fish.
But only four are known to give top quality caviar.
Sevruga, ossetra, beluga, and sterlet.
Sturgeon have been known to live to be over 100 years old.
And have been caught weighing over 2,000 kilograms.
So it’s not surprising that a single fish can carry hundreds of thousands
of eggs, also known as roe, at a time.
Even as high as two million!
With so many eggs - why is caviar so expensive?
Well, first, it takes over a decade for a single fish to be ready to produce roe,
Only laying eggs once every two to four years, if that.
And with the increasing demand that brought the sturgeon to near extinction, it’s no
surprise that caviar’s cost skyrocketed.
It all seems to have begun in the 12th century when fishermen came upon mass amounts of sturgeon.
Fishing the Volga River and the Caspian Sea, there was a constant high supply of
the fish available to the general public.
So much so that it was a staple in the diets of the lower class.
When harvesting the fish, the fishermen would use every part of it.
Meaning that the fish who were of a reproductive age were found to be filled with eggs.
Not wanting any of it to go to waste, they would use these eggs to add flavor to
their food or simply eat it by the bowlful.
And in 1280, the Russian Orthodox church allowed for it to be eaten during times of religious fasting.
Which added to its popularity.
But caviar was about to make one of its first big transitions away from being a food for the poor and
it was all thanks to the first emperor of Russia.
Ivan the Terrible.
He loved the food the moment he tried it.
Then, when he introduced it to his people in high Russian society and nobility, the food’s persona
changed from porridge flavoring to one of luxury.
He even demanded an annual caviar tribute to be brought to him in Moscow.
No longer considered a poor-man’s food, it would continue on this trajectory
of being recognized as a delicacy.
Unfortunately, the popularity of this fish was about to cause a major problem.
The Caspian Sea was running out of sturgeon.
But, during the time of the dwindling sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea,
international demand for it continued to grow.
And this popularity meant one thing:
Increased pricing.
In the mid-1800’s Russian and European nobility referred to the roe as “black gold”.
And towards the end of the 1800’s, the French were exporting Beluga sturgeon roe - the
most rare and expensive of all - from Russia.
In order to make the journey, it would endure a heavy salting and be shipped in wooden crates.
Effectively changing the resulting taste of the caviar.
Though buyers didn’t mind, since it was still the rare fish eggs they had paid a premium for.
But soon, Americans would make caviar completely worthless.
A species of sturgeon was found in large quantities in the Delaware River.
Leading to huge amounts of caviar being available to the American public.
Once again, the supply outweighed the demand and the salty food was
widely available to the lower classes.
Reclaiming the title of poor man’s food.
It even began being used to increase the thirst and spending of saloon customers.
Essentially playing the role of modern day bar nuts.
Often either given for free or even for a mere nickel in some fine dining restaurants.
This went on for some time.
That is until one man saw an opportunity to make a fortune out of America’s unwanted snack.
A German immigrant to the United States, Henry Schacht.
He was going to export the Delaware River caviar to the rest of the world.
He knew America had what the world craved: the largest sturgeon population on the Atlantic Coast.
And he was going to take advantage of it.
In 1873, he started the American caviar business.
Exporting the luxury food for a measly dollar per pound.
Compared to today, where it can sell for nearly four thousand dollars per pound.
And in the late 1800’s, Philadelphia became known as the caviar capital of North America.
Henry’s American product was exported around the world.
Even Russia got in on the success of American caviar.
His business was booming.
So much so that the American-harvested caviar ended up being repackaged and sold back to Americans.
Only, it was now being labeled as Russian caviar.
A name associated around the world with quality.
In fact, this happened so much that in 1900, Pennsylvania released a report estimating that
90% of the Russian-labeled caviar in America was actually originally harvested in America.
Unfortunately for the ancient fish, Henry Schacht’s American caviar business was a ticking time bomb.
The once sturgeon-filled waters in America had been overfished.
And in 1906, a ban was put into place on commercial sturgeon fishing.
So, in the 1960’s, companies began finding substitutes.
This company in particular began using the roe from salmon.
Then eventually the roe from whitefish and lumpfish.
This was a fine substitute, but nothing could beat the rarity and exclusivity of
the sturgeon, especially beluga, caviar.
And the wealthy, again, were willing to pay top dollar for the original,
now very rare, version of caviar.
This demand came hand-in-hand with another problem…
Companies began creating forgeries of the black gold the wealthy were desiring.
And, like with anything else, a knock-off is never as good as the original.
Especially when the fake could cause you harm if ingested.
An instance of this occurred when a man was found to be producing very low quality caviar
by mixing inexpensive stock and attaching well-known brand logos to the containers.
Someone who purchased the counterfeit caviar at a market in Chernivtsi, Ukraine,
became sick with food poisoning and reported the incident to local authorities.
The underground caviar operation was shut down and 3,500 packages of
the illness-inducing roe were found.
A number of factors go into determining quality caviar.
Things like the handling of the eggs, their age, color, texture and depth of the flavor.
But everything would change when a new way to harvest caviar was introduced.
There have been efforts made to ensure sustainability of the sturgeon population
by both governments and caviar producers.
They are now on multiple international lists as both threatened and critically endangered.
And as commercial fishing of wild sturgeon remains illegal in most parts of the world,
there is a new way to harvest the fish while also keeping an eye on the population.
Farming.
Though it wasn’t always the safest measure.
Until now, farming caviar made use of the C-section method, which would often harm the fish.
Thankfully, one woman came into the picture and changed the sturgeon
farming industry for the better.
German marine biologist, Angela Köhler.
She developed a way to monitor and then draw out the caviar from fish without killing it.
The Vivace method.
A few days before harvesting, an injection is given to signal the body to begin
the process of releasing the eggs.
At this point, the fish is given a massage.
And the eggs slide right out.
This isn’t the only plus side to the Vivace method of farming.
The caviar that comes from these sturgeon are known to be firmer.
Retaining their original shape and avoiding a common complaint associated with caviar - mushiness.
"Combine that with the feeling that you can enjoy [Vivace] guilt-free, and you have a win-win."
For over a thousand years, sturgeon fish have been harvested for their eggs.
But no one could have predicted what caviar would become today.
From peasant food, to a treat for the wealthy and noble.
Then… back to poor man’s food, before finally returning to being the most
expensive delicacy in the world.