Many people buy caviar - red or black. Especially often the product is found as a delicacy ingredient in the menu of the festive table. But often acquired fish caviar is very disappointing: the product is of poor quality or does not meet our expectations. How to choose eggs so that the mood and the festive table are not spoiled?
Often the reason for purchasing a low-quality product is to become its "profitable" price. Manufacturers often speculate on our desire to buy inexpensively and more.
Few know the right technology of extraction, preservation and packaging of caviar. There is a high probability that you will be given a "fake": a protein mixture with an admixture of dyes and fragrances. With the naked eye, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish such a product from real fish eggs. Read the following rules, applying which, you can hope that you will buy a valid first-class caviar.
Characteristics of this caviar
1. Transparent glass packaging
Caviar is often sold in small round jars with hermetic lids. Here we use the method of quality control "by eye".Through the glass you can see how the eggs and the liquid in which they are located look like. We do not have the right to say that we can not meet 100% eggs in tin cans, but in this acquisition we will not be able to see the substance of the cans in advance.
Extreme caution should be, acquiring caviar by weight. The freshest and best quality fish product is sold in the Far East during the season of increased spawning( spring and summer), if you decide to buy red caviar. Black is found in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea and only in special fish farms. Acquired in other regions, such a product is likely to be stale or unnatural.
2. Appearance of caviar
This indicator is especially important. Eggs in a good caviar are almost all whole, the percentage of burst eggs should be minimal. It is worth paying attention to the amount of liquid contained in the container, as well as the presence of blood clots. GOST allows such "flaws" in a good-quality product, but their content should be insignificant.
All eggs in the jar should be the same size, filling the dishes with the product is compact( the eggs should be close to the walls), the liquid is a little. Then your acquisition is qualitative. Caviar of low quality or, simply, substandard, contains a large amount of liquid, many damaged eggs and the like. This is due to a violation of the technology when packing.
You can check the naturalness and high quality of the product at home. A good caviar should be rolled out of a jar with peas. The quality of the fish product "pumped up" if the substance sticks to the dishes, or stretches like a jelly, due to the large amount of oil added to the caviar.
3. Eggs
The main role in the quality of the product is not the size of eggs in general, namely the presence of single-grained grains in one pot. Of all the species of red caviar, for example, fine and coarse-grained are distinguished. Sometimes fine-grained caviar trout or coho salmon is "diluted" with larger eggs, for example, chum salmon, sockeye salmon or chinook salmon. High-grade such a game is lost.
With black caviar things are less radical. The grains are so small that the difference in size is almost not noticeable with the purchase.
4. GOST or THAT?
Compliance with the State Quality Standard( GOST) for goods is very important. Such a mark indicates that the manufacturer offers a first-class product. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find caviar made according to GOST.Often manufacturers develop their so-called technical conditions( TU).
This red caviar is made according to GOST 18173-2004, black - GOST 6052-2004, respectively. The composition indicated on the packaging of the product labeled GOST is correct. The smaller the content of additional components, the more caviar quality.
5. Production date
Fresh natural caviar is stored no more than 7-10 days. So the date of packaging and the shelf life of the product, indicated on the package, can accurately indicate whether the caviar has undergone additional processing. Caviar extraction occurs during the spawning period of the fish( from the end of spring to the end of summer), so it is preserved for this period. Winter or autumn packing dates indicate that the caviar was already frozen. Such a product is less useful. In addition, the probability is high that the period of freezing was significant. Carefully study the composition and date of conservation, if you do not want, as a result, buy stale caviar.
In addition, there are special rules for engraving the date on the package with caviar. Jars with fresh caviar are labeled from the inside, so the brand on the tin surface of the jar or lid should be convex. If the bulge is not detected, it is not worth buying such a product.
In addition, to choose a first-class caviar, it is worth looking at the data about the place of packing the product. The closer it is to the fish catch, the higher the quality of the eggs. For example, the Far Eastern fisheries indicate that the eggs were fresh when they were preserved, but the St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl or Ukrainian producers precisely packed the frozen ones. Some types of caviar fish are not bred in the dams, but caught in the wild, this can also affect the conservation time. Trawling trawlers are usually equipped with special equipment for the conservation of freshly harvested caviar. But in Astrakhan and Transnistria, for example, the cultivation of sturgeon has already been established, so their eggs can be bought. Do not forget: in any case, when buying we look at the production date!
6. Product cost
Features of production, storage and sale of goods, its exclusivity and the availability of useful qualities dictate, as a result, its cost. So the caviar, in turn, belongs to the category of delicacies. For 100 g of red caviar you have to pay at least 600 rubles. Black caviar will cost much more - 2000 rubles.for 100 g of product. If you find it cheaper, chances are high that it is a fake.
Fish caviar, in fact, is a testicle with embryos, so they are so rich in the content of nutrients for the development of the body. Just a few eggs are enough to eat. So it is worth buying caviar, but very carefully. If you doubt your choice, it's better not to do it. Do not buy the first jar, it is better to pay more, but get really natural caviar. Today, caviar is no longer eaten with spoons, as in Russia in ancient times, so that even the smallest jar of natural caviar is able to decorate the dishes of your festive table.