In the Collins Caviar warehouse at Adams and Sangamon, Rachel Collins stands in a walk-in freezer surrounded by her company’s assets: bags and jars of glistening fish roe, stacked neatly on shelves. It’s a chilly 10 degrees, so a very quick inventory commences: “This is the raw salmon roe, straight from the fishery, packed and coded. This is how the sturgeon is coming in from my guys in the field. This is the tobikko, private label. Creme spreads in all their glory; there are two flavors.” Outside, Collins explains the severe temperature. “If it’s not cold enough, your product ages and gets freezer burn.”
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Thanks to Italian immigrant grandparents, Rachel’s childhood in Crystal Lake was “all about food, all the time,” she says. Her mother’s family ran a grocery store and later a restaurant, and when commerce closed down for the day the culinary activities continued. The three generations foraged together. “My grandfather picked wild mushrooms and dandelions in the summer for salad. And he would go out and shoot squirrels, and he would make squirrel cacciatore, which was really wonderful–served over polenta, of course.”
It wasn’t until Rachel was at Roosevelt University studying flute that Carolyn came up with the idea of transforming their experiments into a business and recruited her daughter as her partner. They decided to specialize in American caviar instead of importing the elite and pricey Caspian Sea sturgeon roe. “There are many old, venerable (and not-so-venerable) caviar houses throughout Europe and the States,” says Rachel. “It’s a boys club, which in my opinion is a disadvantage.” There was also the decline in the Caspian’s sturgeon population to consider: “We try to lead relatively green lives ourselves, and we weren’t going to get involved in anything that was injurious to an endangered species.” The company cultivates relationships with reputable roe suppliers in the Great Lakes, Idaho, and Canada, including some fourth-generation family fishermen.
She recalls her reaction when her mother once declared, “‘I want caviar in every home in America; it’s easy and simple. Everyone can eat it.’ Well, I tell you what–everybody doesn’t want to eat it. But we want to take the elitism out of it. We encourage caviar as a component in a recipe, to use it more frequently. And because it’s so flavorful, it can stand up. It’s nice, delicious, special, upscale food–yes. But still relatively affordable.”
