What is it?
It's a type of vegetable gelatin widely used in vegan pastry recipes.
Agar agar is a food additive which belongs to the category of thickeners.
It is identified with the acronym E406, and it is with this acronym that it is found on food product labels.
Thickeners are hydrocolloids, meaning they absorb water and then form a gelatinous or sticky substance. So if inserted in a liquid they do not melt but bind the water to create a gel.
How is it produced?
Agar agar was discovered in Japan, it is a 100% vegetable product in fact it is extracted from red algae.
How is it made?
How is it made?
It presents itself as a fine, whitish powder.
How does it taste?
Agar agar is odorless, colorless and tasteless, so it doesn't alter the flavor of the product being made. It's therefore suitable for both sweet and savory dishes.
How to use it?
It is soluble in liquids.
It is soluble in heat, this means that when added to cold liquid it does not form any immediate gel.
It's added to the chosen liquid, mixed with a whisk or better by blending with the immersion blender. Then brought to the boil to activate it (It is activated at about 80˚C, by bringing to the boil we are sure), it is not necessary to boil for a long time.
During cooling, a gelled mixture is slowly formed, this occurs at a temperature of approximately 30/40°C.
For complete gelling, it is necessary to leave it to rest for a few hours in the refrigerator.
Unlike sheet gelatine, it does not need to be soaked.
It is not necessary to heat all the liquid you want to gel; you can heat part of the liquid with the agar and then add the remaining cold liquid and gel everything together.
What properties does it have?
It form a transparent gel, not very elastic, hard and fragile, it is not pudding-like and creamy on the palate.
It thicken at temperatures between 30 and 40 ° C while it melt between 80 and 90 ° C.
It is in fact thermoreversible, it means that once it has gelled we can warm it and dissolve it again, and it will thicken again, we can do it indefinitely. This is a very interesting feature.
On the downside, it has a hard time melting in the mouth, so it can be unpleasant.
Last but super important property: it is not freezing resistantAgar is therefore not suitable for preparations that need to be frozen as it could release water during thawing: syneresis.
He has a extraordinary hygroscopic capacity in fact, it swells by absorbing up to twenty times its weight in the water when brought to a boil.
How much do we use?
Agar gels at very low concentrations, starting from 0.2% up to 2% compared to the liquid to be gelled.
Where can we buy it?
It is very easy to find online such as on Amazon or cooking/pastry shops like Sapore Puro, but today it is also easily purchased in common supermarkets.
Here find the various links for the online shops.
How much does it cost?
The price varies from around 7 to 12 euros per 100 g.
Storage
Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Use by the expiration date on the package.
