I was in the canned seafood section a few weeks ago, and looking at the usual stock of sardines, tuna, octopus, anchovies, etc. Then I saw what appeared to be caviar. Not too unexpected--I've eaten grocery store-bought caviar before. (Not the hugely expensive Beluga sturgeon caviar, obviously, but the roe (eggs) of the capelin (see my post on February 3, 2016) and the lumpfish, as well as those of salmon and flying fish as parts of sushi rolls (see my post on July 30, 2013 for info on those last 3 examples). Anyway, upon closer inspection this product was different. It was something called "black seaweed pearls" in a "caviar style." From the Cavi-art line of the Jens Moller Products ApS company, based out of Denmark.
Yes, another vegetarian/vegan version of an animal product. I know I do a lot of these. For any omnivore/carnivore readers, don't fret--I'll be covering some actual meat products within the next few weeks or so. Moving on, this business was started by a guy named, clearly, Jens Moller. (There's a Scandanavian diacritical mark through the "o" in his surname, but I don't have that on my regular keyboard.) A biologist by training, Moller was infamous in his family for his experimenting and attempted inventions. But this one, in 1988, was fruitful. He thought that seaweed pearls looked like fish roe, so he went about completing this illusion as a fake kind of caviar. According to the official company website, lumpfish are declining in numbers, so this is an attempt to help out a species. (I guess the species of seaweed that makes the pearls is doing just fine.) The company has made it 35 years, so enough customers enjoyed this culinary mirage. Jens Moller Products makes three basic types of seaweed caviar. Cavi-art comes in black, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, and with wasabi varieties. The Tosago line (which mimics masago and tobiko eggs) includes orange, black, green, yellow, and green with wasabi versions. Food-art consists of seaweed caviar flavored with lemon, balsamic vinegar, apple, grape, and strawberry. The company also does limited edition product lines too--most notably in 2019 they did a mashup with a famous American company and made Heinz Ketchup "caviar." (With my love of this condiment I would love to have tried this one, even if it doesn't sound all that appetizing.) Jens Moller Products ApS has continued to be family owned and operated, and the current CEO is Jens Christian Moller, who is presumably the founder's son or grandson.
Cavi-art black seaweed pearls flavor: These were black colored, of course, and each egg was about the size of a grain of coarse sand. The taste was kind of odd. Salty, and chewy. The texture was different than real eggs--there wasn't the "pop" that they often have. It was similar to some other roe I've had, but somehow different. A little....off. I know that's vague, but that was the situation. In my post on lumpfish roe, I mentioned that the eggs were extremely salty, to the point of ruining the whole taste. The seaweed pearls weren't that salty, and so were better. I should mention that I had some pearls plain, and some on water crackers. On the crackers was better, an improvement. Overall these pearls were alright, but not spectacular. I don't think I would buy these again. But for vegans who like roe they are probably a good substitute. And as it so happens, I usually really enjoy seaweed, both as a salad, or around sushi rolls. I'm surprised I didn't like this more. Also, part of me wants to see what happens if these seaweed pearls were secretly given to caviar fans. Would they be able to tell the difference? Probably, I think, but I do enjoy when snooty "experts" are fooled in this way, so it would be fun to try.
Apparently Jens Moller is a fairly common name in Denmark. Someone else by that name is a notable director of animated movies and series. Additionally, Jens Moller Jensen was the police chief who investigated the notorious Kim Wall murder a few years back. (Trigger warning--if you Google this murder, be forewarned that it has some graphic, disturbing details.)
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