electrical charges on the proteins within, it
causes the proteins to bond to each other and
thicken the watery egg fluids to a honey-like
luxuriousness.
In sum, a light salting transforms fish eggs
from a mere pleasant mouthful into the
remarkable food known as caviar: a fleeting
taste of the primordial brine and the savory
molecules from which all life springs.
Caviar
Caviar appears to have arisen in Russia
sometime around 1200 CE as a more palatable
alternative to the traditional preserved
sturgeon ovaries. Though the term caviar is
now widely used to describe any sort of
lightly salted loose fish eggs, for many
centuries it referred only to loose sturgeon
eggs. The most sought-after caviar still comes
from a handful of sturgeon species mainly
harvested by Russian and Iranian fishermen as