Some tips on how to properly store red caviar at home

Thinking through the holiday menu, almost every housewife plans to purchase various delicacies, including red caviar. However, not everyone knows how to store red caviar if it was acquired long before the solemn event or if you just had to stock up on this useful product in advance for everyday use. Since red caviar is a native Russian product, and the traditions of its consumption have long roots, the experience of storing delicacy is considerable.

How to determine the quality of the purchase?

Not in vain is this product always showing increased attention from consumers. A great source of easily digestible protein, essential amino acids and vitamins - red caviar combines the properties of a dietary product and a delicacy at the same time. The development and restoration of muscle tissue, cell regeneration, strengthening of the skin, hair, nails - few products have such properties in such a concentrated form.

Since the main place to store red caviar is a refrigerator, you need to remember that it retains the useful properties of the products embedded in it, but is not able to return the freshness already lost. That is why such attention is paid to the quality of caviar acquired, especially since it belongs to the category of perishable goods.

The following factors affect the shelf life:

• the period between fishing and cutting;
• the amount of time spent on the processing and preservation of caviar;
• compliance with sanitary standards during all technological operations;
• optimal temperature conditions observed during the transportation of caviar from producer to consumer.

Tip

If you want to visually determine the authenticity of the purchased product and eliminate the likelihood of mixing artificial caviar: turn the container with the delicacy upside down for a short time - it is not so easy to shake out natural red caviar from it.

Caviar, which has high gastronomic advantages, should be moist and transparent, each egg retains its integrity, and damaged caviar shells are practically not observed. There should not be excess liquid in the jar - such a sign indicates that the product has already been frozen.

The clouding of eggs, the bitter taste during eating is evidence that the oxidation of fish oil, decomposition of the membranes and the breakdown of animal protein have begun. Such a product is a great health hazard.

Optimum temperature and shelf life of the delicacy

The best storage temperature for this capricious product is 4-6 ° C. At this temperature and provided that the container with the caviar is closed hermetically, that is, there was no contact with air, you can count on 12 months of shelf life. If the packaging has lost its integrity or the caviar has been stored for some time at a temperature above the optimum, its shelf life is rapidly reduced.

Tip

Caviar, which is left in a small amount in a jar, can be kept fresh by placing it in a glass bowl scalded with boiling water and putting 2-3 lemon slices on top.

The above method can save the product for a week. For fidelity, it is worth sprinkling the surface from above with vegetable or olive oil. If you leave caviar without such treatment, then you need to eat it within two days.

How to store the product packaged in jars?

The main reference point for the validity of pasteurized caviar is the production date indicated on the package and the shelf life. It is worth paying attention to whether manufacturers used any preservatives. Most often it is:

• vegetable oil;
• vitamin C;
• urotropin (E239).

The last preservative should be avoided, since it is forbidden to use, and when used together with the product, it can cause food poisoning. It manifests itself in an unusual bitter taste, which would seem to be quite fresh in terms of shelf life of the delicacy.

Having opened the tin packaging, you must immediately transfer its contents to glass or earthenware dishes. Tin at home immediately begins to oxidize, and the products, if they are not transferred on time, quickly deteriorate in such a bank.

Tip

Before shifting the delicacy, you need to pour the container with salted boiling water.

You need to use such a canned product in a period of up to 3-4 days, it will not be possible to save it longer. Caviar can only be taken with a clean spoon to prevent the entry of microbes and the development of a pathological process in it.

Storage of caviar

In the market and in the store you can buy weighted caviar. To keep it as long as possible without loss of quality, you need to place the delicacy in a sterilized glass dish, gently seal it, put a sheet of paper moistened with vegetable oil on the neck and close the container.

Tip

Storage of such packaging should be provided on the shelf of the refrigerator with the lowest temperature, moving it as close to the rear wall as possible.

If all the conditions are met, you can expect that the shelf life of this delicacy will be at least a week. In order to extend it even more, you can put the container in the dishes, on the bottom of which crushed ice is poured - it needs to be updated periodically as it melts. It is not recommended to store caviar in a plastic container, because the delicacy may acquire an odor.

Is it possible to freeze red caviar

Often, caviar lovers have a question - how to store red caviar for a rather long period of time? The best way to do this is to store it in the freezer of an ordinary refrigerator. Experts believe that with such an extreme method, the quality of the product worsens, but this option is still possible.

Tip

Before freezing at home, you need to lay eggs in portioned containers, since repeated freezing will no longer be applicable.

Before placing the product in the freezer, you must tightly close the containers with a lid or cling film. When defrosting caviar, you do not need to get it immediately into a room with room temperature. It’s better to do it gradually by placing the product on any shelf of the refrigerator. So useful properties will be saved to the maximum extent. In the frozen state, the shelf life of the delicacy is about a year, it will be possible to stock up for future use.

Preservation as a way of storage

This method can not be called absolute preservation, but its application allows you to extend the shelf life of caviar up to six months.
The technology consists of the following steps.

1. The container is sterilized or infused with hot boiling water.
2. The inside of the container is lubricated with vegetable oil (preferably olive oil).
3. The caviar is carefully and densely packed.
4. Everything is covered with a thin layer of vegetable oil to stop contact with air, and is closed by a nylon cover.
5. The product is placed in the coldest place in the refrigerator, where it can be left for up to six months.

Using a variety of storage technologies for red caviar at home, you need to be sure of the quality of the original product and that all hygiene requirements are met.