Beluga caviar: types and properties

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The least known representative of sturgeon is the beluga. The largest of freshwater fish. It is known that some of the individuals caught weighed up to one and a half tons. Beluga caviar is used as food, moreover, it is the most expensive product of animal origin.

Beluga

In general, this creature is really huge - the capture of a specimen 4.2 meters long has been recorded. There are suggestions that you can meet individuals up to 9 meters with a weight of 2 tons, but such cases have not been documented.

This fish lives for a very long time, up to a hundred or more years. Unlike salmon, which die immediately after spawning, beluga caviar is not the cause of its death. These fish can spawn many times. After spawning, they return to their usual habitats.

The beluga is a fish-eating predator. He begins to engage in robbery, while still a fry in his native river. In the sea, he tries to make do with fish, but sometimes he snacks on shellfish. Newborn seals were found in some of the specimens caught.

Fish has long been listed in the Red Book. It is currently prohibited to capture her,buying and selling any of its parts, including caviar. However, any of the parts can be purchased on the black market. Just have to wait a few years. The fact is that the number of beluga has significantly decreased. In recent years, much less caviar has been supplied to the black market than those who want to buy it. From the main suppliers of the product, caviar was sold out in advance, for 4 years in advance. In addition, this fish is protected by the legislation of all countries, so those who sell these products are breaking the law. So are those who purchase it.

Almost all beluga caviar is laid in the Volga basin. All available species of beluga differ from each other in their habitats. Since both the meat and caviar of this fish are very expensive, attempts have been made to breed it in captivity. However, what is now announced at fish factories as beluga is actually not - it is just a mixture of noble fish with others that do not have such a high pedigree.

Types of caviar

In ancient times it was impossible to imagine a gala dinner in the royal house, if the main dish was not on the table - black beluga caviar. Black, however, it can be called a stretch. In fact, it has a dark gray color. The smell of caviar is specific, the taste is nutty.

There is one variety of caviar, but there are many colors. And the lighter it is, the higher its cost. The most expensive is the albino beluga caviar. A product from older fish has a more refined and refined taste. The color of caviar from such a rare creature is white, with golden glimpses. The intensity of the shine also directly depends on the age of the fish.

White beluga caviar, like the product of other shades, does not tolerate contact with metal utensils - it kills the taste. It has long been customary to serve this product either with cool champagne or with vodka, chilled as much as possible.

This caviar is the largest, its diameter reaches 6 mm. The price, as can be assumed, also depends on the size of individual grains, on their degree of maturity, and even on the place where the caviar was mined. The most valuable is the caviar of fish living in the Caspian Sea basin.

Composition

Beluga caviar is rich in various groups of vitamins, phosphorus, calcium, molybdenum, magnesium, fluorine, sodium, iron. Each of these substances is necessary to keep the body he althy and beautiful. In addition, a fifth of beluga meat consists of protein, which is easily completely digested, giving the body much-needed amino acids.

Fatty acids are found in caviar and beluga meat in smaller quantities than in other sturgeon fish, however, it is an excellent supplier of omega-3 fatty acids, without which the stabilization of intercellular processes is impossible. They have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, and help reduce the likelihood of a stroke or heart attack.

Benefit

The very composition of the product speaks of its usefulness for the body. It is recommended for use in dietary nutrition, for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, for the prevention of heart problems and other ailments. However, considering how muchalbino beluga caviar, like caviar of other colors, it is unlikely that any ordinary citizen will be able to not only eat this product, but even try it. However, not everyone will even see it.

Both the fish itself and beluga caviar are very high-calorie dishes: 100 grams of meat contains 150 calories, while caviar contains 250. However, based on the price for every hundred grams, you can not worry too much. It is unlikely that you will be able to eat enough in order for the product to affect the nutritional value of the diet.

Contraindications

Beluga caviar, the photo of which reminds us what this product that disappeared from the diet looks like, can only be contraindicated for people with individual intolerance to the product.

Prices

The prices for this product are shocking and amazing. The most expensive is the albino beluga caviar. It is so expensive that it is customary to pack it in jars made of gold. This "gold reserve", which weighs less than 100 grams, is estimated at about 2 thousand dollars. A kilogram of a unique product will cost $23,000. You can also buy vegetable caviar for the same price. Only instead of a kilogram, you will have to use 13 tons of this tasty, undoubtedly he althy, but very inexpensive and not exclusive product.

Beluga caviar, which is not albino, is cheaper, but not enough to be affordable to most buyers. Its price varies from 10 to 19 thousand dollars per kilogram, depending on the color of the caviar. The lighter, the more expensive. And the older the fish that gave thiscaviar, the higher the cost.

If you are offered to buy inexpensive beluga caviar - be absolutely sure it's not it. This may be the caviar of artificially bred hybrids, or even the laying of some other fish. Even if the seller claims that he is giving it away so cheaply, because he is in a hurry / urgently needs money / another reason - in no case believe it. No one will sell good, high-quality, real beluga caviar below the average market price, and even more so, no one will do it in incomprehensible places and markets. After all, people who are really capable of purchasing such a product do not go to the markets.