A 50g tin of Maison du Cannes Royal Beluga caviar with three mother-of-pearl spoons and three packs of cocktail blinis. Served with Bollinger PN17 Champagne.

Beluga, and why it costs what it does

Beluga comes from the largest and slowest-maturing sturgeon of the three, which is why it is rare and why it is priced as it is. The grain is the biggest, the colour the palest – light grey, almost pearl – and the taste is buttery and delicate rather than salty. It needs nothing beside it.

Where it comes from

Maison du Cannes grade and tin their caviar in France. All three species are farmed rather than wild – wild sturgeon has been protected under CITES since 1998, and no legitimate caviar sold in Europe comes from wild stock. Farming is the reason caviar of this quality exists at all today, and the reason the sturgeon are still here. You can read about the protection of sturgeon at CITES.

Packing and delivery

We pack this hamper in a 20-inch wicker hamper finished with raffia. Caviar travels chilled and should go into the coldest part of your fridge the moment it arrives. We deliver across mainland UK and can send straight to the recipient with a handwritten card. See the rest of the range on our caviar hampers page.

How to serve it

Keep the tin unopened and cold until the moment you serve it, then set it into crushed ice. Use the mother-of-pearl spoon and nothing metal – silver and steel taint caviar and you will taste it. Blinis warm rather than hot, creme fraiche if you like, and nothing else: no lemon, no chopped egg, no onion. Once opened, eat it the same day. If you are serving more than one grade, work from the lightest to the darkest and use a separate spoon for each, or the finish of one will carry into the next.