What is caviar?
Remove the unfertilized eggs (roe) from a female sturgeon, salt them, and you've got caviar.

What types of caviar are there?
The world's best caviar comes from the wild sturgeon that live in the Caspian Sea. There are three major types -- beluga, osetra and sevruga.

• Beluga - Rare and massively expensive. Beluga is a "status symbol" caviar. Delicate and buttery taste, large eggs. Harvested from the giant Beluga sturgeon, which sadly hovers on the brink of extinction.
  
  
• Russian Osetra - It's less expensive than beluga and the favorite of many caviar connoisseurs. Also spelled ossetra and asetra. Nutty and fruity taste, medium-sized eggs. Harvested from the Russian (gueldenstatti) sturgeon.
  
  
• Iranian Osetra - Very similar to Russian osetra, except it comes from a different sturgeon species, the Persian (persicus) sturgeon.
  
  
• Sevruga - After beluga and osetra, this is the third most coveted type of caviar. Has an intense, briny, of-the-sea taste that you either love or hate. Small-sized eggs. Harvested from the Stellate (stellatus) sturgeon.

What about farmed caviar?
The wild sturgeon populations have become critically threatened by overfishing, pollution and poor stewardship. The beluga, in particular, hovers on the brink of extinction. As a result, star chefs, including Jacques Pépin of PBS's "Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way", Rick Moonen of "rm seafood" in Las Vegas, and Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere in San Francisco, have taken Caspian Sea caviar off of their menus and replaced it with these excellent farmed alternatives.

• White Sturgeon Caviar - Many consider this to be this best type of farmed caviar. The nutty flavor has been compared favorably to Caspian Sea osetra. White (transmontanus) sturgeon are endangered in their native habitat, the Pacific Coast of North America, but white sturgeon farms are helping to take pressure off the wild populations. Also called California or Transmontanus caviar.
  
  
• Farmed Osetra Caviar - Another top choice. Food expert David Rosengarten predicts this just might be "the next big thing in caviar." It is farmed from the same exact species of Russian sturgeon (gueldenstatti) that genuine Caspian Sea osetra comes from.
  
  
• Baerii Caviar - This type of caviar comes from the Siberian (baerri) sturgeon, a species native to Russian rivers. Some say it tastes similar to sevruga caviar. Farmed everywhere: the US, Europe and South America.

Other Fish Roe

If the roe (eggs) comes from a fish other than the sturgeon, it is not called caviar. Instead, it is called fish roe. Fish roe is a cheaper alternative to caviar. Examples include:

• Paddlefish - Most consider this to be one of the best tasting and most affordable alternatives to true caviar. Some compare the briny, of-the-sea flavor to sevruga. The paddlefish is a cousin of the sturgeon that is harvested from the wild in its native habitat - the Mississippi River system.
  
  
• Hackleback - This is actually a true caviar, not a fish roe, because it comes from the shovel-nose sturgeon, a true sturgeon species that lives wild in the Mississippi-River system. I've listed it here because it tends to be mentioned in the same breath as the paddlefish - both are considered to be great "budget" alternatives to the great Caspian caviars. Hackleback has a milder, more buttery flavor than paddlefish.
  
  
• Other roe (mild flavor) - Bowfin, Trout, Whitefish.
  
  
• Other roe (intense flavor) - Salmon, Capelin, Lumpfish.

More Info

Serving Tips - Good caviar should be eaten using non-metal spoons, since the metal ruins the flavor. Most people use mother-of-pearl spoons. Bone or plastic are other options. Really high-end caviar should be eaten by itself. Less expensive caviar can be spooned on top of lightly toasted bread or blinis (miniature pancakes) topped with sour cream. Accompany with vodka; some prefer champagne.

Malossol - A term that means "very lightly salted". The best caviar uses only a minimal amount of salt (less than 6% by weight). Lesser quality caviar has a higher salt content (up to 8-11%).