Ten grams, and the right spoon

A 10g tin of Maison du Cannes Royal Oscietra with a mother-of-pearl spoon. Ten grams is two good mouthfuls each for two people, which is exactly how most people should meet caviar for the first time. The spoon is not a flourish – metal taints caviar, so it has to be pearl, horn or bone.

Why a small gift

Not every gift needs to be a hamper. This one is priced so that you can send several without thinking too hard about it – the team who covered for you, the neighbour who took the parcels in, the four people you owe a thank you and keep not getting round to. It is the same food we put in the large hampers, in the amount one household will actually get through.

Who makes it

Maison du Cannes grade and tin in France – farmed, as everything legitimate sold in Europe has been since wild sturgeon came under CITES protection. We import these ourselves rather than buying through a wholesaler, which is the only reason a gift at this price can hold food at this level. You can read how the protected designations work at the European Commission.

Packing and delivery

We pack this in a small matte-black gift box with a printed ivory-cream sleeve, by hand in Worcestershire on the day it leaves us. It fits through most letterboxes on its side and needs no explaining when it arrives. We deliver across mainland UK and can send it straight to the recipient with a handwritten card and no prices anywhere in the parcel. If you are sending several to different addresses, send us the list and we will handle it rather than making you place separate orders. See the rest of the small gifts on our thank you gifts page.

How to serve it

Caviar cold, in the tin, set into ice – and never with a metal spoon, which taints it.