Caviar has always been the delicacy of aristocrats and sophisticated gourmands. Even though nowadays you can buy black or red caviar in many stores – they are nowhere near a match to the real thing. There are more than 400 species of sturgeon in the world but only three of them – Beluga, Oscierte, Sevruga (Huso Huso, A gueldenstaedi, A sellatus – in Latin) which inhabit the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea are used to obtain caviar.
The caviar has four types. The first – the Golden or Royal caviar – is the most exclusive, the most expensive, the rarest and the most difficult to obtain. In former times it was specially saved for consummation by the Russian czars, Manchurian imperators and the Vatican only. Until quite recently in Iran this caviar was exclusively delivered for the Sheik alone, but if someone else was caught eating the Royal caviar he was punished by cutting off his right hand.
