How to Store Your Caviar from expert Laura King

King’s Fine Food- Storing your caviar.

Caviar is a very perishable product and needs to be properly stored to retain its delicate flavours. Once you have made your purchase care must be taken to store it in the correct way.

Here are a few tips for keeping caviar at its best:

Storage

• For unopened caviar, check the sell-by date, which will generally be found on the underside of your caviar tin, this will advise you of the shelf life for the product.

• Do also take care to store your caviar on a flat surface with the lid facing upwards as caviar contains natural oil which is required to be evenly distributed in the tin.

• The ideal temperature for storing caviar is 28 to 30 F. Most household refrigerators won’t reach this temperature, so place the caviar in the coldest part, which is the very bottom at the back of the fridge where it will not be subject to temperature changes.

• Keeping the containers vacuum sealed is crucial to preventing contamination, having smaller size containers may be a better option for personal use than larger ones. King’s caviar tins range from 10g to 250g allowing you the option to choose a suitable size for your requirements.

• Once the tin is opened and the caviar is exposed to the air, a natural oxidisation process will begin. Initially, this can be beneficial. Rather like letting a fine wine “breath”, so exposing caviar to air can enhance the flavour and it can taste very different some hours after opening. However, if exposed for too long the eggs will begin to dry out and harden.

• If there is any left after the initial serving, replace the lid tightly after use and return to the coldest part of your fridge and consume within 3 days.

• We advise you not to keep caviar in the freezer, as this will destroy its delicate texture and the texture of the roe. However, if by chance your caviar has been frozen, very slowly return it to a thawed state by keeping it in the refrigerator over ice for a day or two.