CAVIAR PACKAGING: TINS OR JARS?

Traditionally, there are two basic ways of packaging caviar for retail sale. It is either presented in vacuum sealed tins or in vacuum sealed glass jars. On our site, you will see that we only sell proper caviar in tins, with the non-sturgeon caviar presented in jars. Why is this so?

The main reason for us is the market. In the UK, the market is dominated by caviar in tins. Many people associate glass jars with pasteurisation. This can affect the quality of the delicate sturgeon caviar, but it does extend the shelf life. The process is better suited to other, more robust, fish roes. Pasteurised caviar is not popular in the UK. Hence, caviar is presented in tins so that people are immediately confident that it has not been pasteurised.

In other, less trustworthy, parts of the world, caviar is sold in jars so that the customer can see what is being bought and have a little more confidence in the product. I hope that this is not needed in the UK and is hardly relevant to an internet company like Caspian Caviar. Anyway, a visual inspection through a thick glass jar hardly helps to identify dyed Pike roe!

As is often stated, metal does change the taste of caviar. However, food grade tins are laminated, so the caviar does not touch the metal. Supporters of jars say that rust can be an issue. I have never seen it unless the tin is visibly damaged. A damaged jar could be harder to spot and who wants chards of glass in ones caviar?

All in all, we are very happy to continue supplying caviar in tins. A caviar tin is a caviar tin. A glass jar with caviar in it looks like a refugee from the cosmetics industry.