what is caviar made of

Caviar is a delicacy consisting of salt-cured roe, or eggs, of the family Acipenseridae. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea, such as Beluga, Ossetra, and Sevruga caviars. However, the term caviar can also describe the roe of other species of sturgeon or other fish such as paddlefish, salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish, whitefish, or carp. The farming, harvesting, and handling methods can make a huge difference in the quality of the final product. Once the roe is harvested from the sturgeon fish, the roe sacks are rubbed across a stainless steel mesh screen to separate the eggs from the membrane. The eggs are then rinsed and inspected with tweezers to remove impurities, membrane residue, and broken eggs. Lastly, the caviar is weighed, salted, and packaged. In order to be true caviar, the fish roe must come from the sturgeon fish (the Acipenseridae family), but oftentimes, people consider roe extracted from other fish as caviar too. The largest area of innovation in terms of caviar in recent years has been the development of imitation, plant-based caviar, which is typically made from seaweed and can be enjoyed by vegetarians.