Milt: The Fish Sperm Delicacy Loved Around the World

If you think caviar is adventurous, meet its lesser-known counterpart: milt. While most North Americans recoil at the idea, fish sperm is a prized delicacy across Asia and Europe, commanding prices that rival luxury seafood. In Japan alone, premium cod milt can cost nearly $100 for just 500 grams.

Milt refers to the seminal fluid and sperm sacs of male fish—essentially, the reproductive organs that spray sperm onto fish eggs during spawning. The name comes from Old English, but the culinary tradition spans continents and centuries.

Japan's Winter Treasure: Shirako

In Japanese cuisine, milt is called shirako (白子), which translates to "white children." The name perfectly describes its creamy, cloud-like appearance. Japanese chefs prize shirako from cod, anglerfish, salmon, and the rare pufferfish, with winter being peak season when male fish are full of milt.

The flavor profile surprises first-timers: mild ocean brine with a hint of sweetness, and a texture compared to custard, whipped cream, or soft cream cheese. Japanese preparations include:

• Raw as gunkan maki sushi, wrapped in nori
• Poached and served with citrusy ponzu sauce
• Tempura-fried for a crispy-creamy contrast
• Grilled for smoky depth

From Sicily to Siberia

Italy's Sicilian cuisine features lattume—tuna milt used as a pasta topping. In Romania, carp milt called lapți (from the Latin "lactes") is breaded and fried. Russians pickle herring milt as moloka, often pairing it with herring roe for a complete reproductive experience.

Korean cuisine embraces the milt of Alaska pollock and cod, while Czech families serve carp milt soup (mlíčí) on Christmas Eve. Even British cooking has a tradition of breaded, deep-fried milt on toast.

In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, kratsborscht—a sweet and sour sauce made from mature male herring sperm—was laboriously scraped by hand from the membrane, hence the name "scratch borscht."

Why So Expensive?

The sky-high price comes down to labor and timing. Milt must be harvested entirely by hand, and only during spawning season. A single male fish doesn't produce much usable sperm, making it a genuinely limited resource. Pufferfish milt, which is completely safe to eat despite the fish's notorious poison, commands even higher prices due to rarity.

The Japanese philosophy of using every part of the fish—respecting the ocean's gifts—elevates milt from byproduct to luxury ingredient. While Western diners might balk at "fish sperm," cultures around the world recognize it as the male counterpart to caviar: rich, delicate, and worth savoring.