- Nothing says luxury quite like caviar. It’s the perfect food for celebrations of all kinds, or just for some serious indulging.
- We’ve rounded up the best caviar to get you started, including Osetra, Kaluga, California white sturgeon, and paddlefish.
There’s no better way to lavish everyone around you with love than a jar of eggs from a prehistoric leviathan that spends its life sifting through cold, dark, murky waters for a feed. Okay, maybe that doesn’t sound so appetizing, but if Poseidon ever came up with a more delectable ambrosia, he surely, selfishly chose not to bless the rest of the world with its splendor.
While you may not be able to get your hands on huge quantities of caviar given the high price tag of the good stuff, at the very least, a judicious spoonful of the pearly little morsels of black gold is in high order.
Sterlet and Beluga, the crème de la crème de la mer, are no longer available in the United States due to an alarming decline of those particular sturgeon, but Osetra, Sevruga, Paddlefish (note that this is not sturgeon, but a similarly prehistoric species), and others will still more than suffice.
Just don’t forget the blinis, the creme fraiche, and, of course, the champagne.
Here is the best caviar:
- Best (American-raised) Osetra caviar: Marshallberg Farms
- Best Kaluga caviar: Olma
- Best Californian white sturgeon caviar: Tsar Nicoulai
- Best Paddlefish caviar: Marky's Wild-Caught Paddlefish Caviar
Updated 7/30/2020. We updated prices and formatting and added a selection of relevant buying guides.
The best (American-raised) Osetra caviar
Marshallberg Farms' caviar is among the only Ossetra Russian sturgeon caviars produced in the United States, it's meticulously processed, and each tin is sourced from a single fish, so you'll get some of the cleanest and most consistent roe around.
Ossetra is a medium-grain caviar often associated with a clean but nutty taste. It's usually not as salty as other caviar, though that depends on the brine and how long they sit in it.
Marshallberg Farms is based in North Carolina, and the company guarantees that it does not mix roe from different fish to compose your tin of caviar. This might sound snooty, but the flavor of a given caviar, and the consistency, will get a little lost if it's sourced from multiple fish, and blending roe is not preferred.
The best Kaluga caviar
Olma's Kaluga caviar is as close as you'll get to Beluga caviar with its firm, juicy, creamy taste.
Kaluga, or river caviar, is as close as we can get to the illustrious Beluga, the king of caviar, but also the most endangered sturgeon.
The United States has had a ban in place on the import of Beluga caviar in an attempt to stem overharvesting. Kaluga, however, still comes pretty darn close.
Olma has been serving up caviar in New York City since 2001, and offers a direct line on the best of the best. You can even buy it on Amazon and get fast shipping straight to your door.
The best Californian white sturgeon caviar
Tsar Nicoulai uses buttery, smooth, clean, single-source eggs from California's central valley to make its caviar.
Tsar Nicoulai has been supplying the United States with white sturgeon caviar from California for more than 30 years.
The company pushes sustainability while still maintaining high standards, making Tsar Nicoulai a boutique caviar house that sits at the intersection of decadence and morality. The company also puts out a marvelous, much more affordable salmon roe.
The best Paddlefish caviar
Marky's Paddlefish Caviar is a fraction of the cost of Osetra caviar, but it's the cleanest and most delicious paddlefish caviar you can buy.
Caviar comes in all grades, but we don't really find the bottom of the barrel to be worth buying, especially when tobiko, salmon, and trout are all good alternatives.
Marky's wild-caught Paddlefish Caviar isn't cheap by any means, but it is the least expensive choice in our guide and it's also the cleanest paddlefish caviar we've tried.
Paddlefish is an American sturgeon that is associated with a slight muddy taste that puts many aficionados off. It's faintly there, but with a bit of creme fraiche, a blini, and a glass of dry champagne, we'd be fooled.
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