What is fruit caviar?

June 24, 2:47 PMMonroe Molecular Gastronomy ExaminerDavid Szondy

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Traditional caviar has a rival.  Photo credit: lupico

According to G K Chesterton,

There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats Grape-Nuts on principle.

But what about the man who eats his caviare on his Grape-Nuts? Or on ice cream? Or asparagus? Perhaps in a glass of champagne? It wasn't that long ago that you'd have thought he'd gone barking mad and started shouting for the strait jackets, but today it just means that he's discovered that product of molecular gastronomy: Fruit caviare.

As you may have guessed from the name, fruit caviar isn't quite like the staggeringly expensive Beluga caviar nor the $2.85 a jar lumpfish variety that you can get down at the supermarket and even the cat won't touch. It doesn't even look like caviar True, it's made up of small, round, balls, but instead of black or gray or salmon colored, they're pink or bright green or strawberry red or any of a range of other hues. And as to the smell, one whiff confirms that these never came from anywhere near a fish. Put some in your mouth and the delicate membranes pop; releasing not a salty, fishy flavor, but the taste of grapefruit or strawberries or mangoes or even asparagus.

Asparagus? Well, whoever said that fruit caviar had to have fruit in it?

It's pretty obvious at this point that making fruit caviar hasn't anything to do with sturgeons and the like, so where does it come from? The answer lies in chemistry and the key is a substance known as sodium alginate, which is a commercial thickener derived from seaweed and used in everything from ice cream to stomach tablets. When less than one half of one percent by weight of sodium alginate is added to a liquid, such as tomato juice or puréed blueberries, and then the mixture is added drop by drop to a bowl of water containing calcium chloride, a reaction occurs and each drop forms a tight membrane that looks and feels like that of caviar It even pops in your mouth like caviar What you use as a base for the liquid doesn't matter. It can be anything from borscht to Cointreau. So long as it's edible, the PH value isn't too extreme, and you remember to strain the juice beforehand, you can pretty much use what you like.

If you're curious about fruit caviar, you don't have to go through all that chem lab fuss, nor do you need to visit the sort of restaurants that charge you a month's rent for dinner. Not only are there are kits available for making your own fruit caviar at home, but there are several brands of ready-made fruit caviar available:

Schloss Nordkirchen Delikatessen offers three different varieties of fruit caviar, including:

• Orange
• Strawberry
• Wild Berry

And they're promising to expand to mint, cranberry,peach, tangerine, pineapple, lime, cocoa, coffee, tomato, beetroot and artichoke. They're available in sizes from 200 gram jars to 12 kilogram buckets and keeps unopened under refrigeration for six months

Caviart sells a line of vegan caviar alternatives intended for those with ethical objections or prefer a milder, less fishy taste. There is currently:

• Black “Lumpfish”
• Red “Lumpfish”
• Yellow “Lumpfish”
• Red “Salmon”

Just Gourmet Food has what it calls “spherical caviar” available in 60 to 435 gram jars that keep unopened without refrigeration. Flavors include:

• Apple
• Ginger
• Lime and lemon
• Strawberry

Available only in France, Spain, and the Benelux countries.