How can you tell if the red or black caviar is bad?

The ability to recognize a low-quality product saves embarrassment in front of guests, saves from food poisoning, its consequences. If caviar is correctly selected, organize optimal storage conditions, you can enjoy its taste on holiday or weekdays, saturate the body with vitamins, minerals.

Signs of spoiled red caviar

Caviar loses consumer properties due to the intake from spoiled fish, violation of salting technology, non-compliance with sanitary norms, improper storage or expired shelf life.

Low-quality product is determined by characteristic signs:

Repulsive odor.

"Smell" of rotting, decaying fish is difficult not to recognize and take for normal. Fresh red caviar smells faintly of the sea, of fresh fish. Even if the grains with the stink has not expired, they are inedible, as the processes of decay are started due to violations of storage conditions. Caviar made from algae smells like herring. Artificial product is flavored with herring milk extract.

Color changes

High-quality delicatessen retains uniform color, no darkening, areas with rot or mold in the caviar mass. Unsuitable product for use in food is indicated by the presence of slime, cloudy dark liquid in the jar.

Unpleasant taste with bitterness

All rotten red caviar is definitely bitter. To taste it is enough to bite 1-2 grains without swallowing the caviar juice.

How to tell if black caviar is spoiled

Spoiled sturgeon fish caviar, like red caviar, is recognized by its appearance, smell, and taste. Quality fish eggs are transparent with a germ inside, a glossy sheen. In the missing grains, the shell becomes matt due to the formed plaque.

A low-quality product is characterized by a pungent, unpleasant smell of rotten fish, alcohol, rancid fat. Oxidized black caviar has a dramatic change in taste, bitterness is evident, and the eggs are slippery and slimy.

Symptoms of poisoning and first aid

One to two hours after eating a tainted delicacy, cramps begin in the abdomen. This is followed by nausea, which turns into vomiting. If the toxins have reached the intestines, diarrhea begins. Symptoms increase gradually or occur all at once.

Less commonly, food poisoning with red or black caviar causes headache, weakness, tachycardia. Pulse rate, blood pressure decreases, and temperature rises.

In general, victims suffer from intoxication in a mild to moderate form of severity. If the poisoning is accompanied by dehydration, disorientation in space, tremors of limbs and loss of consciousness, without medical intervention is necessary.

To ensure that a mild, moderate course of food poisoning does not turn into severe, it is necessary to bind as soon as possible, to remove toxins from the body.

First aid consists of a complex of measures:

1. Flushing out the remains of tainted food from the stomach. The victim is offered salted water (1 tsp per 1 liter) or a weak solution of potassium permanganate from 1 liter. Vomiting is induced repeatedly until the fluid coming out of the stomach becomes clear.
2. Medication treatment. After gastric lavage, the patient should take activated charcoal or another absorbent according to the instructions for use. In case of fever give antipyretic, in case of allergy symptoms - antihistamine, but not earlier than one hour after the absorbent drug.
3. To restore water balance after repeated diarrhea, the victim is provided with a warm drink - Regidron solution, herbal decoctions, weak tea without added sugar, water without gas. Milk, sour milk, carbonated drinks are contraindicated in case of poisoning.

The ambulance is called if the symptoms increase, do not go away within two days, the victim is a child, a pregnant woman or an elderly person.

Shelf life and storage conditions

Preservation of consumer properties of red caviar depends on the type and tightness of packaging. Terms, conditions of preservation of the product in a closed factory container:

• one year - in a tin in the refrigerator door;
• one month - in a glass container on the middle shelf;
• half a year - on the shelf closest to the freezer in a container of plastic, in a vacuum bag.

After opening the package storage time is sharply reduced, because immediately begins the process of oxidation. At room temperature the product does not spoil for up to five hours. In the refrigerator, delicacy retains nutritional value and is not dangerous to health up to 7 days, if moved into a clean glass jar, tightly closed with a sterile lid.

Tip! To extend the preservation period of the nutritional value of caviar poured vegetable oil (preferably heated in a pan).

How to choose fresh caviar when buying

Recommendations for choosing a delicacy in retail outlets:

1. Buy red caviar from the Far East, black - from Astrakhan, Yaroslavl, Vologda regions, the city of Volgorechensk, where the leading aquaculture farms growing sturgeon are located.
2. Fresh caviar is salted at fish-processing plants located near the catching grounds at the end of summer. If the date on the package is different, the contents were prepared and frozen last year.
3. Give preference to caviar in a glass jar, in which you can assess the uniformity of color, the integrity of the shape of eggs, to make sure there are no foreign inclusions in the form of rot or mold.
4. Grains in the package should not stick together, and when you turn the container quickly move to the lid. Properly prepared, quality caviar drips slowly down the walls.
5. Check the integrity of the packaging. Caviar oxidizes at the slightest contact with air. Refuse to buy the delicacy in jars with bloat, rust, and dents.
6. Make sure the product has a current expiration date. Evaluate the labeling. If the product is salted and packaged at a legitimate facility, the date of manufacture and other information on the lids of jars are embossed on the inside. On the package of counterfeit products numbers are printed.

Refrain from buying loose caviar because of the difficulty in determining the date of manufacture. If there is no unpleasant odor, it does not guarantee the quality of the delicacy. Unscrupulous sellers have long ago learned to disguise the smell of spoiled products.

Why caviar is bitter

Bitterness is a characteristic taste of caviar of sockeye, chinook salmon, coho salmon and pink salmon. This nuance gives the delicacy a piquancy.

The obvious bitterness of the product is the result:

1. The addition of large amounts of preservatives to increase the shelf life.
2. Violation of the harvesting technology, namely, getting bile on the roe when improperly cutting the fish.
3. Non-compliance with the conditions of transportation, storage - over-freezing caviar, leaving it in the open air under sunlight.

Bitterness impairs the taste of the product, reducing the quality.

How to remove the bitterness

The taste of the delicacy is subject to correction, if the bitterness is not caused by natural causes, expired shelf life. Caviar can be washed with boiled water, but the taste will be better if it is replaced with strong strained tea or mineral water.

There should be twice as much liquid as the caviar. The eggs are gently stirred, the liquid is drained after 5 minutes. If the desired effect is not achieved at the first time, the procedure is repeated. This method not only reduces the bitterness, but also refreshes weathered eggs, making them less salty.

It improves the taste of the delicacy with vegetable oil, mixing a part of the bitter product with a high-quality one.

To enjoy the taste of red or black caviar without worrying about health, it is purchased in supermarkets or specialized fish stores that value their reputation. You should not buy a knowingly low-quality product at an undervalued price.