Burro 1889 is made by Le Fattorie Fiandino, a family-owned dairy. The history of Fattorie Fiandino dates back to the end of the 1700s, when a shepherd named Stefano Fiandino moved from Milan to Demonte and set up shop. Skipping forward several generations to the 1920s, Magno Fiandino (great-grandfather to the current generation) began purchasing the land that comprises Villafalletto, the farm where the family is based to this day.

After much experimenting, the present-day Fiandino family discovered the right combination of technique and ingredient to produce an exceptional butter, named after the official year of the company’s founding. The milk used to make Burro 1889 is from Piedmontese cows that roam the hills eating fresh grass and the machine used to produce the butter is a centrifugal cream separator. This process for churning butter is distinctive in that the paddles are fixed and the container spins around them. Using a centrifugal system means more butter is separated out from the buttermilk and water, giving it a smoother texture than traditionally churned butters. After the butter is separated from the buttermilk, it is allowed to ferment or mature in a cool space for a minimum of 72 hours, allowing the butter to develop even greater flavor.

Burro 1889 and Apricot Jam on Toast

Salt comprises 2% of the salted version of Burro 1889. Not surprisingly, it plays a major role flavor-wise and the salt they have chosen is considered by the Fiandino family to be almost a “secret ingredient.” Salt, a major commodity in European trade for hundreds of years was originally rare in the mountains of Piedmont. When Nonno Magno happened to be visiting the port of Genoa (accompanying one of many friends who went to seek their fortune in the Americas), he discovered a new salt, just arrived from Sicily and bought a bag to take home. He found this salt to be significantly different from that he normally used, both to sight and to taste – it was very  fine and delicate. To the family, it seemed natural to follow Magno’s lead. They researched the salts from Sicily and have chosen to make Burro 1889 with one that is hand-harvested by Culcasi, a saltworks based in Nubia, a small village in the municipality of Trapani on Sicily.

Both the salted and unsalted versions of Burro 1889 have a smooth, creamy texture and sweet, nutty flavor. All things being equal, I prefer the salted version – a thick spread of salted butter on a crusty piece of bread and a large dollop of apricot preserve makes for a very nice breakfast or afternoon snack with a cup of tea. A nice twist, however, is a compound butter, made with the unsalted version of Burro 1889, using brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. This has the power of transforming a simple pancake into a delicious winter treat!

Spiced Brown Sugar Butter

1/3 cup unsalted Burro 1889, at room temperature
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
dash of freshly grated nutmeg

Place all ingredients in a bowl and, using a spoon or small spatula, gently knead the butter until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Serve at room temperature with pastry, pancakes or toasted bread.

Syndey Oland is a Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge alum, a passionate cook and regular writer on her own blog, Eating Nose to Tail.

Dehydrated Morel Mushrooms

The months of January through early April in New England signify a time of rest and re-growth on the farm. While fields are quiet and covered with snow, farmers are offered a brief respite from harvesting. This time is used to select seeds and finish crop plans for spring. Naturally, this also means a lull in local produce available here at the shop, as many crops are out-of-season or grown in limited quantities at this time of the year.

Luckily, West Coast farms are able to offer and ship fresh, organic and sustainably harvested fruits and vegetables during the early months of the year. Here at our Cambridge location, we have been working closely with small family farms and foragers who practice similar growing methods to the farms we work with in New England. Among these are Foraged and Found Edibles, a purveyor and harvester of wild edibles from Northern California to British Columbia, from the Pacific Ocean to the Continental Divide.

My introduction to Foraged and Found Edibles began with a telephone call from our sister shop in the South End. David, the manager and lead cheese buyer, had expressed great enthusiasm over this relatively young company and urged me to explore their offerings.

Hedgehog Chanterelles

With the fall mushroom season in New England coming to an end, I knew we would have the space on our shelves for the dried varieties. So, my curiosity piqued, I agreed to receive a small batch for a trial run.

When we received the delivery the following week, I quickly finished my tasks for the day and hauled the crate downstairs for a closer look. Our delivery included King Boletes, Morels, Chanterelles and a “Wild Mix” of Pacific Northwest species — each beautifully shaped, spotlessly clean and looking as though they were picked and dried mere hours ago. The King Boletes, also known as Porcini mushrooms, were plump and inviting. The Morels were the biggest I had ever seen. And the “Wild Mix” was absolutely bursting with color and variety. I tried to name each mushroom in the pack – Oyster, Lobster, Porcini, was that a Hedgehog Chanterelle? I soon lost count. David had been very, very right in his recommendation. These mushrooms were exceptional. And, as I would soon find, so is the company who foraged for them.

Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Founded in 2001 by Jeremy Faber, Foraged and Found Edibles currently supplies farmers markets, restaurants and specialty shops in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Satisfying a passion for both forestry and the culinary arts, Faber ensures quality, timeliness and consistency with his harvest. From the mountains to the table, these wild edibles are hand-picked, sorted and cleaned. Then, the mushrooms are laid on racks and fan-dried without heat. (The use of heat can ultimately destroy compounds in the mushrooms, leading to the loss of color and flavor.) Soon after, the mushrooms are hand packaged into re-sealable, two-ounce pouches and simply labeled. With his patient, selective eye and a dedication to preservation, Jeremy Faber has created a brand of high-quality dried mushrooms that elevate any dish.

To begin using dried mushrooms, you must first rehydrate, or reconstitute them. Good quality dried mushrooms require a short amount of soaking time – the mushrooms from Foraged and Found Edibles need only about 5 minutes. The most efficient way to reconstitute the mushrooms is to place a handful (or however many you wish you use at a time) in a small bowl. Bring a kettle of clean, cold water to a near boiling temperature and carefully pour over the mushrooms until covered. Once the mushrooms are soft and plump, pour the mushrooms and their liquid through a fine mesh sieve (or coffee filter) to drain, making sure to keep their soaking liquid, also known as the liquor. This liquor is fantastically savory and rich, perfect for using in place of broth for soups, stews, braises, or sauces. As for the mushrooms, use them as you would in any recipe calling for the fresh variety.

Hydrating Dried Mushrooms (L-R): Pouring on the Water and Mushroom Liquor

Roast Chicken with Wild Mushrooms and White Wine

2 cups dried wild mixed mushrooms
3 whole chicken legs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 leek, thinly sliced with greens removed
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup dry Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc
1 cup mushroom liquor (see note)
1 fresh bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme

Reconstitute dried mushrooms: place the mushrooms in a small bowl, cover with near boiling water and steep for 5 minutes. Drain. (Note: reserve liquid as the mushroom liquor.)

Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Rub chicken legs with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and set aside. In a large, oven-proof skillet, heat 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Add chicken to brown for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet.

Add garlic, leeks, carrot and mushrooms to the skillet. Sauté briefly, until leek is softened, about 5 minutes. Add white wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, skin side up. Add mushroom liquor, bay leaf and thyme. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until chicken is cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!

Emily Shannon is a cooking enthusiast and works in the produce department and as a cheesemonger at Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge.

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Rabbit Pâté

Choosing a favorite pâté is a little like selecting a favorite child. Each has its own attributes and unique characteristics that differentiate it from its siblings. That said, our house-made Rabbit Pâté would be a strong contender for the top of my “favorites” list. Wrapped in rose-hued Prosciutto di Parma and encased in amber-colored Madeira aspic, this pâté is our most intricate and, in my opinion, visually appealing.

One of my favorite things about cooking at Formaggio Kitchen is the wealth of wonderful ingredients at our fingertips. Working here as a chef is like being a kid in a lollipop factory. It is as much a treat to cook as it is to eat here, and often the ingredients that we get to use in our recipes add up to more than the sum of their parts. Such is the case of the Rabbit Pâté.

Most importantly, we start with great raw ingredients. We source our rabbits from a small family farm in Orwell, VT, aptly named Vermont Bunny Pen. Gene and Elizabeth Nantel raise rabbits and we buy about 50 from them throughout the year. Each rabbit weighs between 4-5 pounds when it arrives in our kitchen. They come to us headless, skinless, and cleaned (gutted) but otherwise intact. Nothing goes to waste and we use every bit at the charcuterie station. We begin by boning the rabbits, separating the loin and legs from the backbone. The bony forelegs are perfect for slowly stewing in fat and stock is excellent for making rabbit rillettes, while the leaner loin and meaty hind legs are simple to bone and grind for pâté. We make a light but flavorful stock from the bones and use the livers to flavor and bind the pâté. The soft white fat that wraps the rabbits’ kidneys and any additional fat is a welcome addition to either recipe.

Much of charcuterie-making involves ratios, and the meat ratio for our Rabbit Pâté is 50:25:25 (rabbit:pork:pork fat). Pork is the ingredient that gives most pâtés their signature richness. We source our pork from small family farms in Ashby, MA and in CT. The criteria we use for sourcing all the meat used in our house-made charcuterie is as follows: it must be excellent in quality and impeccably fresh, humanely-raised and, whenever possible, from small, local farms.

The rabbit meat, pork, and pork fat are ground in our kitchen and gently mixed together to form the base of the Rabbit Pâté. This is then combined with a liver-based binder and finally garnished with California pistachios. Our other pâtés would be ready to be baked in their terrines at this point, but there are three extra steps that separate our Rabbit Pâté from its cohorts. First, we line glass terrines with thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma, then we pack the seasoned forcemeat into the terrines and carefully wrap the prosciutto around it. After these pâtés bake and cool a bit, we place appropriately sized wooden blocks atop each terrine and weight them down while they chill overnight. The next day we transfer them to clean terrines, where they await their aspic bath. Madeira aspic complements the flavor of the pâté, in addition to creating a visual and textural contrast to the flavorful meat. Once the aspic has been garnished and has set, the pâtés rest for one more night before they are ready to be un-molded and join their siblings in the meat case.

Julie Biggs is charcutière and a frequent classroom instructor at Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge.

Tagliolini con Tartufo

Shortly before Christmas, a display went up in front of our wine section: stacks and stacks of beautiful boxes of egg pasta. Brand new to the shop, the pasta was made by a gentleman named Marco Giacosa in Alba, a town in the northwest of Italy.

Alba is a short hop, skip and a jump from Bra where the biennial Slow Food cheese festival takes place. Known simply as “Cheese,” the festival is arguably the most important event for folks in the cheese world. Owners Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal, were attending “Cheese” this past October when they discovered Marco Giacosa’s handmade pasta. Ihsan told me that it was served to them on the first day of truffle season – cooked al dente with shavings of truffle on top. It is no surprise then that they came away wowed!

First day of truffle season or not, this pasta is special. Several cuts are made with at least 30% eggs, giving the pasta a deep golden color. His Tajarin, a Piedmontese delicacy, is notable for having a whopping 36 eggs per kilo of flour – 18 whole eggs and 18 yolks.

Marco Giacosa Tajarin vs. Regular Spaghetti

My first experiments with this pasta involved the Tajarin and the Tagliolini con Tartufo varieties which I sampled on successive nights. First up was the Tajarin, which Marco aptly describes as “golden threads”. Made with a minimum of 33% eggs, this pasta is super yellow. The strands of pasta are not perfectly uniform in width because the pasta is hand cut, coiled into neat nests and then dried. Each package of Tajarin contains four nests of the pasta and I found this quite handy because I decided to cook two of them and I saved the other two in a resealable plastic bag.

On the side of each box of Marco Giacosa pasta is the recommended cooking time. The pastas cook extremely quickly (a major plus when you are famished)! The recommended cooking time for the Tajarin is two minutes. Also on the side of each box is a serving suggestion. On the evening I decided to bring the pasta home, our produce manager, Julio coincidentally received a shipment of Porcini mushrooms. As a result, I was well primed to follow the Tajarin serving suggestion (see below), opting only to cut the recipe in half.

On a recent trip to Tuscany, I took a cooking class with a chef who showed me that I had been seriously under-salting my cooking water. This seems to be one of the tricks for amping up flavorful pasta. So, into a liberally salted two quarts of water, I dropped two nests of the Tajarin. Watch your pasta closely because it IS done really quickly. I drained the pasta and then drizzled it with some olive oil, adding the mushroom-garlic mixture which I had already prepared. I used Italian parsley (this seemed appropriate) to garnish the dish instead of mixing it in with the mushrooms, adding a touch of Parmigiano Reggiano too. Delicious! And super easy.

Since my first experiment with Marco Giacosa’s pasta, I have purchased more of the Tajarin, opting to have it simply with a touch of olive oil and a sprinkling of parm. Because the pasta is so flavorful and rich, it’s a wonderful comfort meal to eat bundled up on the sofa while winter rages outside.

Tajarin Paired with Pacina Wine

The night following my Tajarin experiment, I rolled out the Tagliolini con Tartufo. A little more expensive, what with the truffles and all, it felt very luxurious and was a lovely treat for a winter evening. Because I did not want to drown out the truffle flavor, I opted simply to boil the pasta (recommended cooking time is 3 minutes), drizzle on a little olive oil and then sprinkle on a small smattering of Parmigiano Reggiano. Super aromatic and well-balanced, the flavor of the truffle comes through clearly but is not so strong that it is cloying. The Tagliolini has an egg content of 30% and a truffle content of 4%. As previously, I only used two of the Tagliolini nests and saved the others for a future date. Because the pasta was so good, that future date came very quickly.

Tagliolini con Tartufo with Parmigiano Reggiano

In addition to the two varieties of Marco’s pasta that I sampled, we are importing the following: Tagliatelle, Pappardelle, Tagliatelle made with buckwheat, Tagliatelle with Porcini mushrooms and Maltagliati, a hand-cut variety traditionally made with the bits of dough left from making the other pastas. All of Marco’s pastas are attractively presented – I actually thought they looked so nice and were so scrumptious that I gave a couple of boxes as Christmas presents. Going forward, I am excited to sample some of the other varieties, hopefully expanding my repertoire of sauces at the same time!

Tajarin with Mushrooms

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:4 nests Tajarin, 400 grams mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 sprig of parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Tajarin with Porcini Mushrooms

• Wipe mushrooms with a damp cloth, remove the caps, cut the caps into thin slices and stems into cubes.
• Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan and add minced garlic.
• Before the garlic takes on color, add the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste and cook over moderate heat for 15 minutes.
• After cooking the mushrooms, season with chopped parsley. Cook the Tajarin in boiling, salted water until just al dente.
• Toss the drained pasta with the mushrooms and a thread of olive oil.
• Serve immediately. Recommended accompaniments: a glass of wine and some finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Enjoy!

Mary is a cheesemonger and baker at Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge.

When we started this blog, one of our main goals was to answer some of the questions we most regularly get on the cheese counter. As our blog’s archive has grown, we realize that some of these posts are becoming a little bit difficult to find so, here, under one header, we bring together the answers to some of those commonly asked questions!

1. How do I put together a cheese plate?
2. Do you eat the rind on this cheese?
3. What exactly are double and triple-crème cheeses?
4. What is a washed-rind cheese?
5. How should I store my cheese?
6. BONUS: a little bit of cheese history.

We hope that these posts continue to help folks understand and love cheese as much as we do. As always, please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions!

Strach'in

We checked in with our lead cheese buyer, Kurt, to see what he was recommending for this New Year’s Eve. He put together a selection that hits all major milk types – cow, goat and sheep – while covering a range of textures and cheese styles. And, they all pair beautifully with sparkling wines!

Langres – When in doubt about which cheese to pair with a given wine, it is almost always safe to say, “something from the same region.” As it happens, we have a corker (pun intended!) for Champagne. Langres is a small format washed-rind cow-milk cheese that comes from the same region of France as its most famous style of bubbly. Traditionally, it is served by pouring a small amount of Champagne over the top.

Ekiola Ardi Gasna Fermier – “Ardi Gasna” translates as “sheep cheese” in the Basque language. On a trip to the Pyrenees in 2010, Ihsan, Valerie and Julie of our South End store, discovered this raw milk cheese. Sourced from a tiny farm, this is exactly the kind of cheese they were hoping to find. It has a firm texture with bright, rich flavors of sheep milk and hay.

Robiola di Capra in Foglie di Castagna - This is a pure goat-milk robiola from Piedmont wrapped and aged in chestnut leaves. When young, the cheese has a thick, cakey texture similar to a young chèvre, but with a beautiful density of flavor. As it ages, the cheese starts to mellow and, through contact with the leaves, it develops an earthy, wine-like aroma and flavor. Unwrapping the leaf covering makes it a dramatic centerpiece.

Strach’in – Brand new to our cheese case, there was much excitement when this cheese arrived. Strach’in is a super creamy, sweet cheese – essentially a small production Gorgonzola Dolce – and it pairs perfectly with something dry and bubbly. Consensus on the cheese counter is that this was an excellent addition to our repertoire of blues.

South End wine buyer, Julie Cappellano, and Cambridge wine buyer, Gemma Iannoni, offer their top picks for bubbly to celebrate the holidays and ring in the New Year! Their selections subscribe to our philosophy of selecting authentic, terroir-driven wines from producers using organic, sustainable, or biodynamic viticultural practices.

- Julie’s Champagne Picks -

Aubry Fils Brut Champagne N.V. (Jouy-les-Reims, France)

Made by twin brothers Pierre and Philippe on their estate in Jouy-les-Reims, this staff favorite Premier Cru blend has fresh green apple notes and a rich minerality. Sophisticated and complex but still lovable and approachable. Fantastic with panettone.

Billiot Fils Brut Rosé N.V. (Champagne, France)

Perfect pink Pinot Noir based Champagne from grower Henri Billiot’s tiny, 5-hectare estate. This rich, dense Grand Cru Champagne has a lovely floral nose, fine strawberry fruit and a pink grapefruit zestiness with a long, lingering almost salty finish. Simply marvelous with (or without) food.

- Gemma’s Sparkling Wine Picks -

I Clivi ’10 Ribolla Spumante (Friuli, Italy)

This bright, electric, citrusy sparkler is based on 100% organically cultivated Ribolla Gialla. The grapes are sourced from a vineyard just fifteen minutes northeast of our friends’ Mario and Ferdinando Zanusso’s home in Corno di Rosazzo, crossing into Slovenia’s portion of the Collio growing region. The Zanussos press the grapes at Champagne levels, meaning very gently, so as to extract only the fior di fiori, or the highest quality juice. This ensures that the finest, most delicate aromas are expressed in the finished wine. Gentle pressing is used for all of the Zanussos’ grapes, which is why their wine is several notches above their peers. The only difference between this bubbly and their white wine, Gialla, is that the Spumante is made into a sparkling wine using the Charmat method. It is also perfect for brunch as it is low in alcohol and finely effervescent. Only 1,500 bottles produced and exclusive to Formaggio Kitchen.

Domaine des Vignes du Maynes Ste. Geneviève Blanc (Burgundy, France)

Drinking this with eyes closed, you might think that you’re drinking a Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc! This 100% biodynamically farmed Chardonnay-based sparkler comes from the Guillot family’s small clos just outside the village of Cruzille in southern Burgundy’s Mâcon region. Utmost care and attention to detail are what make this wine stand out, since everything is done by hand from the vineyard to wine cellar. This wine is a unique expression of stony/limestone soils, showing marked minerality and acidity as well as richness and creaminess on the palate. Ste. Geneviève is the patron saint of hail and her statue is visible above this vineyard, intended to protect the vines from the flash hailstorms that are typical of Burgundy’s steeper sites. This wine is Méthode Champenoise and is produced in-house. Roughly 1,200 bottles are made each year. This is a rare wine – don’t miss it.

Rabbit Pâté

We have already shared a few of our top picks for gifts this season. However, sometimes it’s nice to treat yourself. Here are five “don’t miss” goodies that we think you will enjoy!

Robiola di Capra in Foglie di Castagna - This is a very special cheese. Made purely with goat’s milk, it is a Piedmontese robiola wrapped and aged in chestnut leaves. When young, the cheese has a thick, cakey texture similar to a young chevre, but with a beautiful richness of flavor. As it ages, the cheese starts to mellow and through contact with the leaves, it develops an almost wine-like aroma and flavor. This is one of our favorite party cheeses as the leaves can be opened up and used as a natural frame for the cheese.

Rabbit Pâté - Our charcutière, Julie, makes a wide range of delicious goodies with humanely-raised meats. However, it is her Rabbit Pâté that has been garnering all sorts of attention this year – currently a finalist in the Good Food Awards, it was also recently featured in Bon Appétit. Studded with pistachios, it looks lovely on any charcuterie plate.

Maglio Fichi - To make these delectable treats, dried cilento figs are carefully split open and hand-stuffed with thin slivers of candied lemon peel and almond. Each fig is then enrobed in a thick coating of Maglio’s exquisite dark chocolate. One of these fichi is a perfect finale to your holiday meal – perhaps with a glass of vin santo!

Antonia’s Old Fashioned Mustard - Much anticipated by staff members, this mustard arrived in our shop for the first time just before Thanksgiving. Made in the Netherlands by Margreet and Harold Knobben, it is a small-batch, wholegrain mustard. Perfect for use on sandwiches, blended into a salad dressing, alongside roasted meats or paired with Julie’s Rabbit Pâté and a few cornichons. A great all-rounder!

Bottega delle Api Limone Honey - In a taste test, Ed Behr and his team at The Art of Eating chose this honey from among forty – it was “the favorite of every taster.” We agree that it is exceptional. Made from the nectar of lemon blossoms found in groves scattered along the Amalfi Coastline, it pairs beautifully with cheese, including Robiola di Capra in Foglie di Castagna.

L-R: Catharine and Elaine of EH Chocolatier

Elaine Hsieh and Catharine Sweeney never meant to become chocolatiers. In fact, they first met over a wedding cake. A mutual friend was getting married and enlisted them to bake her cake – something new to both of them. Judging by their continuing partnership, the cake was a success, a challenge that got them started making sweets of their own.

Caramelized White Chocolate Bars with Nibs

Although neither Catharine nor Elaine had experience making chocolates, both were life long lovers of food with varying degrees of culinary experience. At first they honed their skills, selling to friends and family through a chocolate of the month club, before opening their doors to the public last year.

After a successful season, the duo decided to close up shop for the summer in order to experiment with new flavor combinations. Julia and I, chocolate buyers at our Cambridge and South End locations respectively, jumped at the chance to stop by to see what goodies Elaine and Catherine had cooked up during their hiatus. After a delicious and sugar-fueled trip, I can safely say EH Chocolatier is back in action with a slew of exciting, new chocolate creations joining their original line-up, a collection of chocolates already well on their way to be becoming old favorites!

Elaine and Catharine, proprietors and chocolatiers of EH Chocolatier, were gracious enough to show us around in their Somerville kitchen. Don’t be fooled – Catharine and Elaine might be new chocolatiers, but their confections are anything but amateur. Anyone who is familiar with their chocolates knows that they pay great attention to the details – from aesthetics of packaging and individual bonbons, to the balance of flavors in every chocolate creation. Formaggio Kitchen staff members are vocal in recognizing Elaine and Catharine’s work – in this year’s staff survey, EH Chocolatier’s chocolates were chosen as one of our top 10 of 2011.

A tour of their kitchen revealed just how many details there actually are in the multi-step, labor-intensive process of small batch, hand-crafted chocolates. We watched them whipping up ganache, hand coating chocolates, cutting pâte de fruit and critiquing some experimental chocolates. Take a look at the process below to whet your appetites!

Making ganache:

Cutting pâte de fruit:

Dipping and decorating:

The assembly line – applying transfers to the chocolates:

The finished product:

Gini Bell is a cheesemonger and the chocolate buyer at Formaggio Kitchen South End.

American-Raised Siberian Caviar

Champagne. Cheese. Cake. Caviar. So many goodies start with the letter “C” – and many of them are quite luxurious foodstuffs. Caviar is one of the most luxurious of all. At the extreme, caviar has been packaged in solid gold tins and sold at secret auction to the highest bidder.

Although many of us are familiar with the signature catchphrase from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous – “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” - I recently learned of the food’s more humble origins. Originally, it was sturgeon meat itself that first became popular. The sturgeon’s eggs, before they became prized, were actually fed to livestock and eaten as everyday food. Where did I glean this? I have been enjoying a group of books called “The Edible Series.” Each book in the series focuses on one food product and my most recent acquisition was Caviar: A Global History by Nichola Fletcher. Caviar is something that I knew little about (other than the fact that I liked it!) before I spotted this book and so my interest was immediately piqued.

Prime Osetra Galilee Caviar

It is unclear where caviar was first made – in the sense of how it is preserved today – but early traditions existed in Russia, Iran, Egypt, China, Greece, Persia and Turkey. It wasn’t until the reign of Peter the Great in Russia that caviar made its way into Western Europe. It was slow to take off but by the 18th century and the reign of Catherine the Great, caviar had become established as a luxury good.

Technically, “caviar” refers to the eggs of one of the roughly 25 species of sturgeon in existence today. Of those 25, a few are particularly well-known in the caviar world: Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, A. nudiventris, A. persicus, A. ruthenus, A. stellatus and Huso huso (aka Beluga). Probably the most famous sources of wild sturgeon caviar are Russia and Iran, both of which border the shallow, brackish Caspian Sea where the fish is found. Use of the word “caviar” for the eggs of any other type of fish than sturgeon should specify the fish variety on the label.

Sturgeon (Bonneville Dam, Oregon) - Photo by: Michelle Minor (TheDigiPix.com)

The sturgeon is a funny looking fish, like something out of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was no surprise for me to learn that, as a species, the sturgeon dates back to the Lower Jurassic period – roughly 200 million years ago. These fish can grow to be tremendous – in 1736, a sturgeon caught in the Volga estuary weighed over 2 tons. These days, however, due to overfishing, the fish rarely have a chance to get that large.

When I read about the life cycle of a sturgeon, I was reminded of salmon I had seen swimming upstream in Alaska. For the most part, sturgeon live in the ocean but then swim up rivers to lay their eggs. Their tails are asymmetrical when you look at them top to bottom and the longer, top-part of their tail apparently helps them battle currents. A sturgeon will make this upstream pilgrimage many times in the course of its life. And, these huge fish can live a very long time – sometimes more than 100 years.

White Sturgeon Caviar

Traditionally, caviar is harvested from wild sturgeon by hand – quickly and efficiently. After death, the fish releases an enzyme that spoils the eggs or, even worse, can make someone sick (not unheard of with black market caviar). After the eggs are removed, they are gently passed through a sieve in order to remove the membrane that encases them. Next, they are washed and salted. The quantity and type of the salt is important – as with anything cured, the salt has a profound effect on flavor. Some caviar processors use pharmaceutical grade salt while others use fleur de sel from France. Once the caviar is salted, it is generally packed in small tins, the like of which have been used since the 1th century. As time passes, the caviar absorbs the salt and swell, rounding out and pushing out excess air from the tin.

In addition to salt, I was interested to learn that Russian caviar has a tiny amount of the natural mineral borax (sodium tetraborate) added as well. Historically, Russians would store their caviar in barrels and bury them in the earth. The soil around the Caspian Sea is rich with borax which acted as a preservative and had a slight sweetening effect (so less salt was needed to preserve the caviar). Borax is banned in the US (and Japan) so, by comparison, caviar purchased in the States will tend to taste a tad saltier.

Prime Osetra Galilee Caviar

Overfishing, a problem for many species of fish, is an acute issue for sturgeon. In cold waters, the fish often do not reach egg-bearing age until they are 20 years old. With humans in a rush to harvest caviar as soon as possible and many fishermen flaunting preservation laws, few fish are left to actually use their eggs to repopulate the waters. In 2001, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) reacted to increasing levels of poaching and black market activity by halting caviar trade by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. In a press release, CITES noted that “the fifth Caspian state, Iran, was not subject to the caviar ban, but, commendably, joined the regional effort.” Iran has been working to create a sustainable caviar industry, building hatcheries that release 20 million+ baby sturgeon into the sea each year. However, despite these efforts and their simultaneous efforts to combat pollution, a quota agreement could not be reached in 2009 and all exports from the region were suspended. In 2010, the five Caspian countries were able to reach a quota agreement that was acceptable to CITES and exports resumed.

Looking to the future, methods are being developed to harvest sturgeon eggs without having to kill the fish. Sturgeon farms are being developed and there is increasing caviar production in other parts of the world, reducing pressure on the Caspian Sea region.

This brings us to the United States. Many folks are not aware that there are sturgeon in our own native waters and, here at the shop, we order caviar through Browne Trading Company, based in Portland, Maine. Some of their sources for caviar are sustainable aquafarms in California that raise American White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), a strain of the species that is native to the Pacific. From the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, they source wild Shovelnose Sturgeon roe and, from Florida, the Browne Trading Company sources Siberian sturgeon roe (A. baerii) harvested at the first aquafarm in the US to raise this particular strain of the fish. Outside of the US, Browne Trading Company sources sturgeon caviar from Israel (Caviar Galilee - A. gueldenstaedtii), China (Imperial Huso - Huso dauricus), Germany (A. gueldenstaedtii) and Kazakhstan (A. gueldenstaedtii).

Browne Trading Company Caviar

In addition to sturgeon caviar, roe is also harvested from a variety of other fish found in American waters. These provide a more affordable but still tasty option for folks. Spoonbill or Paddlefish caviar is harvested from fish that grow to maturity in the wild, flourishing in tributaries of the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. Whitefish caviar, bright yellow in color, is sourced in cold lake water in the western part of the country and bright orange salmon roe comes from Alaska. To round out the geographic tour of our country, wild “Choupique” Bowfin fish in Louisiana yield small, black-brown roe that turn red when baked.

At Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge, Tripp, cheesemonger and domestic cheese buyer, is also our caviar buyer. Recently, he received three samples from Browne Trading Company in preparation for the holidays and I got to tag along for the tasting (tough, I know!). We tasted across three different strains of sturgeon, and tasted both domestic and imported:

Back to front: Siberian, White Sturgeon and Prime Osetra Galilee Caviar

SIBERIAN CAVIAR (USA, A. baerii): We agreed that this caviar had a slightly vegetal taste, the pearls were tender and this was the roe with the strongest aroma.

WHITE STURGEON (USA, A. transmontanus): Tripp identified an almost cheddary note to this roe and, once I tasted it, I could not have agreed more. Saltier than the Siberian, it was similarly tender texture-wise.

PRIME OSETRA CAVIAR GALILEE (Israel, A. gueldenstaedtii): This was the most briney or fish tasting of the three, with a touch of bitterness. The Osetra had the greatest length of flavor and the firmest pearls.

We had a lot of fun tasting and comparing the three caviars. Next time, I think we just need to break open a bottle of bubbly and we’ll be all set!

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To speak with us about placing a special order for caviar, please give us a ring at our Cambridge shop (617-354-4750) or our South End location (617-350-6996).

If you are interested in further reading, check out Ms. Fletcher’s book, Caviar: A Global History, which was the source for much of the information in this post.