Malosol

Malosol, Russian for lightly salted, is a food preservation technique that cures with a low concentration of salt, generally below five percent and often around three percent, most closely associated with high-quality caviar. The light salting is enough to season and gently firm sturgeon roe and keep it safe without imparting a strong briny flavor or masking its natural taste, though it gives the product a shorter shelf life than more heavily salted or pickled alternatives. The method dates to the 1820s, when improvements in refrigeration first let caviar producers reduce salt levels while keeping the roe fresh; modern producers typically use a salinity of about 2.8 to 4 percent, and the same low-salt approach is also applied to lightly brined vegetables and mildly cured fish such as salmon, trout or herring.