What's actually in caviar, by the numbers

A tablespoon of caviar is 14 grams. A small tin is 30 grams. A large tin for hosting is 125 grams. People tend to eat caviar without knowing what they're eating — which is fine for most foods, but caviar is nutritionally unusual enough to be worth understanding.

This is a straightforward accounting of what's in a tin. Protein, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, sodium. No promises, no marketing language. Just the numbers.

Protein: about 25 grams per 100

Sturgeon caviar is roughly 25% protein by weight. A 30g serving contains approximately 7 grams of complete protein — meaning it includes all nine essential amino acids the body cannot produce on its own. By density, this puts caviar in roughly the same bracket as chicken breast (31g/100g) and parmesan (38g/100g), and ahead of eggs (13g/100g).

The amino acid profile is particularly high in lysine, threonine, and tryptophan. Protein is used by the body to build and repair tissues — this is well-established nutritional science and not a marketing claim.

For serving size context: a 30g tin provides roughly the same protein as a large egg and a half.

Omega-3 fatty acids: 1.0 to 1.4 grams per 30g

This is the nutrient caviar is best known for, and the one that requires the most precision.

Sturgeon caviar contains both EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) — the two long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish. These are the forms that are biologically active and are the subject of decades of nutritional research.

Our internal measurements, consistent with published values for farmed sturgeon roe, show approximately 1.0 to 1.4 grams of total EPA and DHA per 30g serving, depending on species and lot. Higher-fat species (Beluga Hybrid, Osetra) tend toward the upper range. Leaner species (Siberian, White Sturgeon) trend slightly lower.

The US Food and Drug Administration permits the following qualified health claim for foods containing EPA and DHA:

Supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. One serving (30g) of Just Caviar Osetra provides approximately 1.2 grams of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids. See nutrition information for total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol content.

Note: this is the exact phrasing authorised by FDA. We don't paraphrase it, and we recommend you treat any other source that rephrases it with appropriate caution. The complete FDA letter of enforcement discretion is public and available here.

One frame of reference: a 30g serving of our caviar contains roughly the same EPA and DHA as a standard 1000mg fish oil capsule. Whether that matters to you is a question of how you structure your diet.

Minerals: iron, selenium, and a notable amount of B12

A 30g serving provides approximately:

Nutrient	Amount per 30g	% Daily Value
Iron	~2 mg	~11%
Selenium	~20 mcg	~35%
Vitamin B12	~3.5 mcg	~150%
Vitamin D	~24 IU	~3%
Magnesium	~9 mg	~2%
Phosphorus	~110 mg	~9%

The B12 figure deserves context. Vitamin B12 is a nutrient the body requires but cannot synthesise — it must come from food, and the richest natural sources are animal-derived (fish, shellfish, liver, eggs). Caviar sits near the top of the density list. A 30g serving provides well over a full day's reference intake.

Iron in caviar is heme iron — the form found in animal products, which the body absorbs more readily than plant-based (non-heme) iron. Iron is used by the body to transport oxygen in the blood.

Selenium is a trace mineral. Caviar is one of the more concentrated whole-food sources.

Fat: around 17 to 20 percent by weight

Sturgeon caviar is roughly 17 to 20 percent fat by weight — meaning a 30g serving contains approximately 5 to 6 grams of fat. Of that, the majority is unsaturated, with the omega-3 portion discussed above.

Cholesterol is present — approximately 90 to 110 mg per 30g serving. Dietary cholesterol guidance has shifted significantly over the past two decades, and we'll leave the interpretation to your preference.

Sodium: the honest part

Caviar is a salt-cured product. This is not incidental — salt curing (the Russian term is malossol, meaning "lightly salted") is what distinguishes caviar from raw fish roe. It's fundamental to the texture, the preservation, and the flavour.

A 30g serving of Just Caviar contains approximately 500 to 600 mg of sodium (roughly 25% of the daily reference amount). For a tasting portion, this is significant. For a meal-sized serving, it's meaningful enough to account for in the rest of your day.

We mention this because no one else seems to. Caviar marketing tends to hide the sodium number behind more flattering ones. We'd rather you have it in front of you.

Calories: caviar is not a low-calorie food

A 30g serving is approximately 75 to 90 calories, depending on species. Most of those calories come from fat (which is calorically dense) and protein. There are virtually no carbohydrates in caviar — trace amounts only.

For comparison: 30g of salmon sashimi is approximately 45 calories; 30g of parmesan is about 118.

The full table, by species

Approximate values per 30g serving. Specific batch values appear on each tin's nutrition facts panel.

Red caviar (Keta salmon and trout) differs nutritionally from black caviar. It's lower in fat, slightly higher in protein by weight, and provides less EPA and DHA per gram. Both have a place on the table.

What to make of this

Caviar is nutrient-dense. That's the factual summary. It's rich in protein, provides omega-3 fatty acids in the EPA and DHA forms, and supplies a meaningful amount of several minerals and vitamins — particularly B12 and selenium.

It is also high in sodium and contains cholesterol, and at current prices it is not a cost-efficient source of any single nutrient in isolation. If you wanted omega-3 for the lowest cost per gram, you would buy fish oil capsules. If you wanted protein for the lowest cost per gram, you would buy chicken.

Caviar exists in a different category — a whole food that people have eaten for centuries, across cultures that prized it before the nutritional science existed to explain why. The numbers are interesting. They are not the reason to buy caviar. They are context for a food that makes sense on its own terms.