Caviar - Food of the Gods

From the egg sac of one of the ugliest fish in the seas, caviar has been the food of the rich for centuries. The sturgeon, known in prehistoric times, can live as long as 100 years and weigh more than 1,000 kilograms. Over fishing has all but ensured the near extinction of the sterlet and the beluga from the Caspian Sea, and they are now in danger of being hunted into the history books.

The word caviar is said to have entered the English language from the Turkish (k)havyar, suggesting a long relationship between Turkish cuisine and the famous roe. Although not seen on the tables to break the fast during Ramadan theses days, it was an important dish to commence the evening meal during the late Ottoman period. Visits to both the Mısır Çarşı (Spice Bazaar) in Eminönü and the Balık Pazarı (Fish Market) in Beyoğlu stand as evidence to the popularity of caviar. İstanbul is one of the cheapest places in the world to buy caviar and other fish roes.

Caviar was once sold from the Havyar Han in Galata. Customers, generally from the non-Muslim and elite Ottoman community, would come and taste the caviar then negotiate their purchase. At the time records suggest three different quality caviars coming from Russia and the Caspian Sea region. Özge Samancı, a food historian, tells us that along with "black caviar," a "red caviar" is also noted. This red caviar, today's taramasalata, came from the eggs of a variety of mullet and was prepared with a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil and eaten with wholegrain bread and butter.

Türabi Efendi in "A Manual of Turkish Cookery," published in English in 1864, mentions a fish egg tarator (sauce) prepared as above and served with a topping of crushed pistachios or almonds. He goes on to say that "In Turkey it is served at breakfast and at luncheon, as also in the middle of the dinner, to sharpen the appetite." Fish roe was also recorded in recipes from the cuisine of Sufis of the 18th century. Ali Eşref Dedi, the sheikh of the Edirne Mevlevi Dergah, documented recipes of the Mevlevi cuisine in his book "Food Treatise," originally written in the 1700s and more recently republished in 1992. Caviar salad, as interpreted by Nevin Halıcı, contains fish roe, grated onions and olive oil.

Caviar is the carefully processed, salted roe of particular types of fish, the sturgeon being the most celebrated. There are four types of caviar seen in the markets in İstanbul. Beluga, which matures at 12-18 years, has grey to black-colored eggs that are about 2.5-3.0 millimeters in size. Osetra matures at 10-12 years with smaller eggs that can be black, golden or greenish. Sevruga, the most commercially successful caviar, matures at a younger age of around seven years and has the smallest eggs at 1.2-2.5 millimeters. Lastly the imperial, which was originally from the sterlet sturgeon, these days comes from the albino or white osetra sturgeon. Other sturgeons that are either cultivated or caught wild for their egg sac although not seen in Turkey include the kaluga or Chinese sturgeon, the hackleback sturgeon or the paddlefish, a close cousin.

Over 100 years ago the Hudson, Delaware and Kennebee rivers in the United States were all large producers of caviar. Most of it was exported and in the late 1900s America was providing more caviar for German palates than the Russian catches of the Caspian and Black seas. Harvesting such massive quantities decimated the wild stocks and before long America no longer commercially fished the sturgeon. Across the Atlantic and several centuries earlier sturgeon were found in many European waters and as far west as England, but by the end of the 19th century over fishing and pollution all but extinguished the wild fish.

Despite the dwindling reserves, caviar remained a popular delight for the elite and sturgeon continued to be caught, clubbed over the head so its eggs could be harvested. Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union stricter controls on harvesting did in some way contribute to managing the stocks in both the Caspian and Black seas. Since perestroika and glasnost, the sturgeon has faced the same incredible ride the former USSR has taken. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed the sturgeon in 1998. In 2004, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared the beluga sturgeon endangered. It put the pressure on Caspian Sea nations to improve its conservation measures for protecting the sturgeon. In September 2005 when a review of the situation revealed little change it banned beluga caviar imports that were at that point 60 percent of the world's total. One month later imports from the Black Sea were also banned.

In June of 2007 at the triennial CITES conference no further steps were taken to curb the trade of wild beluga caviar. It will be left up to importing nations and how thoroughly they scrutinize the stocks they are purchasing. The biggest question should be to ask exporting nations about the sustainability of the caviar they produce, but when the market is still so lucrative there seems to be adequate scope for less than honorable negotiations.

Conservationists are urging consumers to buy caviar from sustainable stocks and this includes farmed sturgeon and paddlefish. The United States, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay are leading the way in cultivating sturgeon for meat and roe. They are keen to introduce technology that will produce a taste identical to traditional wild caviar. Bulgaria, Canada, China, Israel and Abu Dhabi are also in on the act. These producers together hope to double the farmed, salted sturgeon roe from 64 tons in 2005 to more than 120 tons by 2010. And whilst the market was not ready for it a number of years ago, it seems that both the improvements in farming and the lobbying from the friends of the sturgeon have seen farmed caviar taken up by both gourmands and economists.

To produce caviar, the egg sac of a sturgeon is removed whole and laid out on a wire sieve. The sacs are rinsed and the eggs graded then salted. The highest quality eggs will be salted the least with a maximum of 5:100 grams added. Salt acts as a preservative but is also essential to give the individual berries, which are naturally lacking in texture, character.

When buying caviar in İstanbul, or in fact anywhere, it is worth knowing that the word "caviar" alone means the eggs come specifically from the sturgeon fish. The eggs of other fishes can still be called caviar, but the fish must also be named. Eggs from salmon should be asked for as "salmon caviar," from mullet, "mullet caviar."

So whether it be farmed or wild, hopefully your next mouthful of caviar will be sustainably caught.

Source: TodaysZaman