Why is black caviar more expensive than red?

Caviar is one of the healthiest delicacies, served for centuries only in the very wealthy and considered a symbol of luxury. And while almost everyone can afford red caviar from time to time, natural black caviar is only becoming more expensive. What is the reason for such a large difference in price?

Origin Matters

Black and red caviar are obtained from different fish species, and modern technologies for producing this delicacy also differ.

Black caviar is obtained from the now-rare sturgeon and its close relatives: beluga, stellate sturgeon, sterlet, and others. Their mass harvesting in the wild is now prohibited, and the organization of their farming is... It's a very expensive, time-consuming, and tedious process.

Red caviar is obtained from more common and, therefore, less expensive salmon species in all their diversity. These include pink salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, trout, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and others. It's enough to wait for active spawning to saturate the market with freshly harvested, high-quality caviar.

This is perhaps the main factor influencing the price. The days when sturgeon could be caught unhindered and in industrial quantities, for example, in the Caspian Sea, are gone, probably forever. Rampant poaching and a lack of proper control have taken their toll. Today, more than 90% of sturgeon family fish are listed in the Red Book.

Time – Money: Black Caviar Requires Patience and Investment

While female chum salmon or, for example, pink salmon are ready to spawn by three to four years, sturgeon caviar can be expected in almost a decade, and sometimes the wait is even longer. For example, beluga sturgeon reach sexual maturity at 15-20 years.

Therefore, sturgeon farming companies must invest years in feeding the fish and providing them with comfortable living conditions in the hopes of harvesting their first batch of black caviar.

Slaughtering fish to extract the delicate, most delicious, and most expensive black caviar has recently given way to innovative methods that allow the female to survive and harvest the delicacy multiple times. These are complex and expensive technologies that require specialized knowledge in veterinary medicine and bioengineering:

• milking methods involve preliminary stimulation with hormonal drugs so that the mature eggs, separated from the ovarian walls, can then be expressed under light anesthesia;
• cesarean sections, which involve surgical extraction of eggs, are also used, but less frequently;
• creation of spawning pools, where natural processes are accelerated using hormonal stimulation, light, and temperature control.

Yields using the latest technologies are still lower than with traditional slaughter, but the value of caviar in the minds of consumers is increased due to the fact that its production is more humane and environmentally friendly.

Culture, Marketing, and Control

It is important to know that, unlike red caviar, Black caviar is under strict international control. Its sales are regulated by the international CITES convention, and a certificate of legal origin is mandatory. This, of course, further increases producers' costs.

Furthermore, while red caviar is associated with the mass culture of festive feasts, black caviar is an elite gastronomic delicacy. This historically established aura of prestige still persists and is undoubtedly exploited by marketers, who skillfully create and exploit the product's symbolic value.

However, inexpensive black caviar should still raise suspicion—it may not be cheap even during major sales. However, red caviar should also be purchased only from trusted sources.