Caviar of salmon fishes, otherwise called red or keta caviar, is made
out of roe of salmon fishes of Pacific Ocean: keta (dog salmon), pink
salmon, cherry salmon, and less often - red salmon, coho salmon and
king salmon. Different salmons have different size and colour of roe
grains. Pink salmon, red salmon, coho salmon and cherry salmon have
3-4 mm diameter of grains, keta and king salmon - 5-7 mm. The yolk
part of the grains has numerous little drop-like fat inclusions
containing lipochromes - colouring carotinoid substances, which give
the grains their colour. Red salmon's grains have the brightest
red-orange colour, keta's grains have pale red colour with a glimpse
of orange, and pink salmon's grains are pink orange.
Caviar of pink salmon and keta is considered the best because of its
pleasant taste and shiny orange colour. Caviar of other salmons has
darker red colour and stronger flavor of bitterness.
By processing salmon caviar is classified as fresh-grained and yastik
, and by packing - as barrel and tinned.
Fresh-grained salmon caviar
Preparation of caviar consists of the following operations. Yastiks
are sorted, washed and beaten through a caviar sieve (roe screening
apparatus). Then the roe is salted in a boiled saline solution of
density 1.2 and temperature of no more than 13-15 degrees Centigrade.
Then tuzluk (solution) is drained away and the roe is mixed with
preservatives (usually 0.3% borax and 0.1% urotropine) and vegetable
oil, 600 g for 1 centner of roe. The oil can be sunflower, walnut,
peanut, sesame seed or mustard. Lately they started to add glycerin to
the oil (15g for 1 centner of roe) to prevent the grains from sticking
together. Caviar is packed into wooden barrels with iron hoops.
During recent years they also started to pack caviar into tin and
glass jars of the capacity up to 500 g. Caviar packed in jars retains
its quality longer and is more convenient for retailing than in
barrels.
Fresh-grained caviar of salmon fishes is graded as 1st or 2nd grade
depending on the condition of the grains, taste, smell or the caviar
and its salt content. 1st grade caviar should have whole firm grains,
there should be no films and blood in it.
Salt content in 1st grade caviar is 4 to 6%, in 2nd grade caviar - 4
to 8%. The content of preservatives: boron-containing substances in
terms of borax - no more than 0.3%; urotropine - no more than 0.1%.
1st grade caviar - caviar of keta, pink salmon and cherry salmon
Distinctive features
Caviar of one fish kind;
Uniform colour;
Firm grains;
Pleasant aroma and taste without foreign flavors;
Low salt - 4-6%;
No residue or broken grains.
For the caviar of king salmon and coho salmon inhomogenuity of colour
and a touch of bitter taste is acceptable.
For 2nd grade caviar is acceptable:
Weak grains of different size and colour;
High salt - up to 8%;
Presence of broken grains or residue, viscosity, slight acid smell and
acrimony.
Salted fresh-grained caviar of ordinary fish is not graded. Salt
content for caviar in jars should be 3 to 6%, in barrels - 5 to 10%
for low-salt caviar and 10-12% for medium-salt caviar.
Yastik caviar of salmon fishes
Yastik caviar of salmon fishes is usually made of frosen yastiks,
since for yastiks extracted from frozen salmons it is impossible to
separate the grains from connective tissue. Yastiks are salted with
dry salt.
By quality yastik salmon caviar can be of 1st or 2nd grade.
Characteristics of 1st grade caviar:
Yastiks are well cleaned;
Grains are whole, firm, without foul taste or smell;
Salt content 3-5%.
For 2nd grade caviar is acceptable:
Yastiks with mechanical fractures or faded colour.
Yastik caviar is also made of yastiks of pike-perch, it is called
galagan, or of yastiks of vobla (Caspian roach) and bream, it is
so-called tarama.
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