Luxury Trivia: Why Beluga Caviar is Expensive

You’ve seen the treat in the fanciest restaurants and the fanciest dinner parties. You may have tasted a little bit and been hooked on the salty, briny flavor. Beluga Caviar, the dish of the Russian Czars and the quintessential rich people’s food the world over. In today’s MacDonald Highland’s luxury trivia, we shed a little light on this rare delicacy.

LUXURY TRIVIA: WHAT IS BELUGA CAVIAR?

Beluga caviar is salt-cured sturgeon roe, otherwise known as fish eggs. The roe comes from the beluga sturgeon, a fish found only in the Caspian and Black Seas near Russia and the Middle East. It is a rare delicacy with prices for an ounce of the roe costing anywhere from $300 to $1,000.

WHY IS BELUGA CAVIAR SO EXPENSIVE?

It is not widely-known that the beluga sturgeon is a critically endangered species. How a fisherman retrieves wild caviar is controversial to some.

A female sturgeon needs around 20 years to mature and drop her eggs. When this time comes, the beluga sturgeon travels to a nesting site to spawn. But before she does, she is caught by fishermen. The fishermen then kill the sturgeon, retrieve her eggs, and sell her body for meat.

This long near spawning, catching, and cleaning process, coupled with the high demand of the eggs, nearly devastated the species. Wild beluga sturgeon is now a protected species. The import of beluga caviar is banned in most countries, including the United States of America.

Most caviar you see comes from sturgeon raised in farms. Sturgeon is raised for the required 20 years, and when the sturgeon is ready to spawn, the fisherman retrieves the eggs either the old-fashioned way or through caesarean section.

If the fisherman performs a caesarean section, he sedates the fish, retrieves the eggs, sews up the fish, and lets her go. Needless to say, the route of cesarean sections is expensive, so you can’t blame a fisherman for demanding a higher price.

INTERESTED IN LUXURY LIVING AT MACDONALD HIGHLANDS?

While some of you may have lost your appetite for caviar now, we hope you haven’t lost your hunger for luxury real estate. At MacDonald Highlands, we offer the best in Las Vegas luxury real estate, luxury trends and the best community amenities.

Schedule an appointment with our luxury real estate agents today and experience paradise.