What's the proper way to say "1 unit of caviar"? Caviar is an uncountable noun even though technically it's countable unlike water, so because of that I am not sure if you can refer to "1 unit of caviar" idiomatically. Is it the case? I thought about "1 egg of caviar", "1 unit of caviar", but they sound really weird and unidiomatic. How would you say it?
For example:
He took 1 unit of caviar and put it on top of a rice ball just to show him he was a frugal chef.
Reading this caviar website it seems that beads or pearls would be an appropriate way to refer to a caviar egg.
He took one caviar pearl and put it on top of a rice ball just to show him he was a frugal chef.
Caviar comes in tin cans, so we usually say one tin or one can of caviar, just like we say one can of tuna.
If you use ctrl+F on this page, you'll see people using both tin and can.
If you are looking for the word for individual eggs, the most conversational thing to say would be just that: one caviar egg.
Another answer cites the word pearl found on a culinary blog. This sounds like restaurantese to me: the writer chose a beautiful, spherical, and nautical object to highlight caviar's luxurious image. Ditto for bead. I would choose one of these words if you are writing with the intent of making the caviar sound delicious, e.g. promotional copy or a restaurant menu.
