the flu and lumpfish caviar

I've had a really bad cold for the past week and a bit, which means my food habits have been pretty much whatever I can get cheaply and quickly and doesn't hurt my sore throat (I'm soooo sick of chicken soup!)

But I did try one new food - lumpfish caviar. It's definitely not going to make my list of favourites anytime soon.


To be fair, I was spoiled by the super-tasty, buttery Canadian Sturgeon caviar that I received over Christmas, so I know that something I'm buying for less than $20 at a supermarket won't compare, but since I don't have the budget to eat caviar more than once a year (if I'm lucky) I dared to hope.

At first glance, it's not as bad as I had initially expected. Dark, glistening individual little balls of roe sat in the jar that I had bought. But, after tasting my first little batch, I knew that I would never mistake this for the real thing.


The lumpfish roe is much more "solid" than the Sturgeon roe I had, which melted on the tongue in a buttery finish. The lumpfish roe stayed globular until I forcibly squeezed it in my mouth, causing it to pop. Also, it was much more watery and salty than the Sturgeon that I had.

Price-wise, this is definitely something I'd trot out as a garnish on special occasions, but it's not something I would sit and savour on its own, which I had done with the real caviar.