Molecular Gastronomy – Carrageenan Kappa and Iota

I’m back with some awesome molecular gastronomy adventures. Today I want to take you into the world of the Carrageenan. What are carrageenans? They are composed of a linear polysaccharide made up of galactose units with sulfur side groups. The origin of carrageenans are red seaweeds. There are several types of carrageenans such as, kappa, iota, and lambda. I’m going to focus on Kappa and Iota carrageenan for this post and share an awesome molecular gastronomy recipe.

A short introduction to Carrageenans:

Natural Carrageenans occur in a mixture of kappa, iota, and lambda types. Note that manufactures desperately try to separate the various types as best as they could, nevertheless; total separation is impossible. Carrageenans also vary from mixture to mixture, therefore; they are standardized for a particular application. Note: when specifying for a carrageenan make sure to tell the manufacture whether you will be using it for water based system or milk based system. Carrageenans are most often used in milk based applications due to the fact that are effective at very low concentrations. For example, gels can form at .3% in milk.

The Kappa and iota carrageenan can be mixed to obtain intermediate textures. Kappa carrageenan shows a great combination with the thickener locust bean gum. By combining these two together you get a stronger, less brittle, more cohesive, and less prone to break. I’ve found that the strongest and best ration is 6 parts kappa carrageenan to 4 parts LBG. Kappa-LBG mixes are often used to substitute for gelatin and make for a great vegan friendly dish.

You use Kappa carrageenan by dispersing it in water or milkl under shear and heat until completely dissolved (usually above 60C). Kappa-LBG mixes need to be brought almost to boil to become fully functional, but will set and re-melt at lower temperatures. Solutions up to 3% can be made using cold water dispersion. Solutions up to 8% can be made if the carregeenan is dissolved directly into very hot water under high shear.

Typical usage is .75% to 1% in water, and .35% to .5% in milk.

Kappa Carrageenan is used mostly to gel mixtures – it is the most like agar in behavior. The gel type is thermo-reversible with a texture that is firm, strong, and brittle. Gel temperature increases with ion concentration, with values ranging from 40C – 70C. The setting factor is very fast with a PH tolerance down to pH 3.6 if boiled, lower is not over heated. Moreover, the kappa carrageenan is not freezer stable and has an ion sensitivity when potassium salts are not present. Kappa also forms gels at very low concentrations with milk and the flavor release is good.

Iota Carrageenan is used mostly to gel mixtures – it is more rubbery in texture. The gel type is thermo-reversible with an elastic and cohesive texture. The gel temperature increases with ion concentration, with values ranging from 40C – 70C, and has a fast setting time. Iota is freezer stable and has an ion sensitivity in the presence of calcium or potassium. Once you shear Iota a gel will form and be loaded with a flavorful release. Moreover, iota forms gels at very low concentrations with milk.

Carregeenan Recipe

Vegetarian Marshmallow

27.5 g Cornsyrup

275g Fine Sugar

2.5g Lactose (milk sugar)

12.95g Water

.5g Versawhip

28g Hi Fructose Corn Syrup

1g Genutine x-9303 Carrageenan

Combine in mixer with mixing attachment and mix until you get fluff. Next pour into marshmallow molds (or ice molds) and allow to set. Once set, powder in confectioners sugar and serve.

 

Enjoy your explorations with the Carrageenan and look for more molecular gastronomy recipe posts coming soon.

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Molecular Gastronomy – Xanthan Gum

Welcome back to my Molecular gastronomy blog. I’m glad to say that I’m back with some great content for the molecular gastronome out there. Today, I’m going to write about the hydrocollid xanthan gum and introduce a recipe for your enjoyment.

Xanthan Gum:a brief description

Xanthan gum is a linear polysaccharide made of a cellulose backbone units with trisaccharide side chains. It is produced by fermentation of glucose or sucrose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium. It is used as a thickener.

Xanthan gum is amazing because it’s very user friendly: Xanthan gum works on any temperature and can be added to sauces without weighing.  Pay attention to what amount works best for you.

How to use xanthan gum in your moelcular gastronomical kitchen is by simply dispersing it into hot or cold liquid under a shear. Typically you only want to use between .2% – 1%.

The solution type is shear  thinning, a pseudoplastic, that exhibits an effect where viscosity decreases with increasing rate of shear stress. In high levels, xanthan gum can give food a very thick, almost mucus-like, consistency. PH tolerance: high. Also, xanthan gum is highly stable when frozen and thawing. The best part is xanthan gum works well with other hydrocollids (Lotus bean gum, Kappa Carrageenan) and even versawhip!!!

Note: Combining xanthan gum with other hydrocollids creates a synergistic chemical reaction that will take your molecular gastro cuisine to a higher level.

RECIPE: Cupuacu Foam with Tonka Bean

Ingredients:

Almond milk 100g

Cupuacu powder .7g

Sugar: 40g

Tonka Bean: .3g

Versawhip: 2g

Xantan Gum: .5g of Texturas Brand

Procedure:

Combine all ingredients except for the xanthan gum into the vita-mix. Mix on high until you get a nice funnel in the middle of the vita-mix. Slowly pour in xanthan gum into the funnel until mixture starts to thicken.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for when I break down the Carrageenans Kappa and Iota.

Molecular Gastronomy – Agar agar

Molecular gastronomy is back and ready to dish out more advanced and novice molecular based gourmet recipes. I want to start with a primer of sorts: something to introduce the topic of discourse before we start to deconstruct. For this post we will be focusing on the hydrocolloid: Agar.

Agar: a brief description

A linear polysaccharide made of glaactose units. Agar is a red seaweed and its function is for Gelling (but I will show you a recipe for “cold-oil spherification.”

Agar is very similar to carrageenan but lacks the sulfate groups found in carrageenans. Agar is very adaptable to high heat and is often served hot and allowed to gel while cooling. To use agar in “cold-oil spherification” drop liquid agar at a temperature of roughly 45-50C into a bath of cold oil.

How to use: Disperse in a cold liquid and heat while stirring until completely dissolved. The target temperature for this to occur is about 90C or above.

You will expect to use about .5% to 1% in your recipes

To make a fluid gel: Make an agar gel in the range of .6%-1.2% and shred in blender until a smooth consistency is reached. You could thin out the gel by adding more liquid or you could thicken the mixture by adding some xantham gum. Could be served hot (but never to boiling).

Gel type: thermo-reversible: Thermo reversible gels melt when heated to a high enough temperature. Texture: firm, strong, and brittle. Gel Temperature: Approx 35C. Setting: Very Fast. PH tolerance: very good except for the fact that keeping acidic solutions heated for a long time will cause the agar to break down. Freezer stable: No. Flavor Release:Good.

Note: you could solve the issue of keeping acidic solutions hot, and thereby causing your agar to weep, by adding some more ascorbic acid to your solution to balance things out.

RECIPE

Blackcurrant and ginger fluid gel sauce

INGREDIENTS:

100g Simple Syrup

500g Blackcurrant puree (I use The Perfect Puree from Napa Valley)

30g ginger juice

pinch of salt

6.3g of Texturas brand Agar(.8%)

EQUIPMENT

Blender, Scale

PROCEDURE

1: Add simple syrup to the blackberry puree until you reach a desired sweetness

2: Add ginger juice

3: Add salt

4: Weight blackcurrant mixture and place in a pan with .8% by weight agar. So if total is 780g, use .8% of 680g which will give you approx 6.34g

5: Bring mix to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 2min. Lower heat and stir to dissolve the agar.

6: When agar is fully dissolved, pour into plate to chill.

7: Take the chilled gel and place it in the blender. Blend until smooth.

That’s it for now. Feel free to ask me questions. Stay tuned for more molecular gastronomy!!!

Molecular Gastronomy – Goji caviar tiny spheres

So today I decided to make goji caviar. I really wanted to just make a sphere out of a regular dried up goji berry. So, what I needed for this recipe/experiment was 1.8 g sodium alginate, 1.3 calcium citrate, and 6.5 calcium chloride. The first step was to prepare the goji mixture. For this, all I did was simply blend 500 g of goji berries in my vita-mix. The end result was 250 g of goji pulp (after passing the mixture through a chinos).

Next, I blended the calcium citrate with 250 g of water and added the sodium alginate until blended well. i placed this mixture in a saucepan and heated it up until boil constantly stirring. I allowed the mixture to cool at room temperature and once cold I added the goji puree and mixed.

For the Calcium chloride bath I mixed 1000g of water with 6.5 g of calcium chloride. I placed the mixture aside and kept it ready for the goji mixture.

Molecular Gastronomy – Coconut milk ice gelatin

By Chef Tali Clavijo

Today I started a quest to make a liquid I really love into a gelatin that is frozen cold. How could I do this? Is it even possible to have a frozen gelatin? Can I do this without using any animal products, and make it vegan friendly? I really enjoy one liquid more than anything in the world…Coconut milk!

I just love raw coconut milk. I love making it and love tasting it in various forms and textures. So, after I made some of my world famous coconut milk (e-mail me for the recipe at molecularfood@gmail.com) I started to get ready for the coconut gelatin ice experiment.

For this recipe all I used was 500 g coconut milk, 250 g water, 36 g powdered coconut (dehydrated and graded), 200 g of sugar, 9 g sodium alginate, 2.4 g of calcium gluconolactate, and other 50 g of water.

Raw coconut milk

After I made my 500 g of fresh raw coconut milk I put it in a saucepan along with the powdered coconut and 250 g of water to a heat of 70 ºC.

Coconut milk, water, and powdered coconut to 70 ºC

Once the mixture reached 70 ºC I added the sugar and the sodium alginate and stirred, then added the calcium gluconolactate.

Mixing the sugar, sodium alginate, and calcium gluconolactate

After I added all of the ingredient, I took the mixture off of the heat and added the remaining 50 g of water.

Adding water to the mixture

The final mixture cooling

After I took off the heat I stuck it in the fridge and allowed to rest for 3 hours.

Mixture resting in the fridge for 3 hours

After 3 hours I took out the mixture and placed in my vita-mix

Getting ready to blend mixture in vita-mix

I blended for about 2 min until the mixture was smooth

Smooth blended mixture

I transferred the mixture to a mold and placed it in the freezer for about 12 hours

Transferring mixture to mold

Coconut mixture in mold getting ready to freeze

After 12 hours, or overnight, I took out the mold and got ready to place the final coconut gelatin serving

Flipping my coconut gelatin frozen mold

The final result

Coconut milk ice gelatin

Serving suggestion:

Coconut milk ice gelatin with wlanut dust biscuit

Molecular Gastronomy – Transformation walnut dust biscuits

By Chef Tali Clavijo

so today I felt like making something sweet and powdery. I’m just fascinated by fine powders and what better powder than tapioca maltodextrin? The ability for ‘malto’ to transform oils into powders is like a super power that only heroes are granted access too. Maybe someday I too will be able to turn fat into a fine powder…until then I will be making food that is amazing.

So, for this recipe I needed about 60 g of ‘Malto’ (tapioca maltodextrin), 145 g of walnut oil, 2.3 g of salt, and about 40 g of walnuts (I smoked mine in sugar, but you could use raw walnuts for this too).

I started by pan steaming my walnuts with some sugar for about 10 min on medium. Then I placed them aside.

Pan steaming my walnuts with some sugar

Next, I measured out 60 g of ‘malto’ and added the walnut oil to the mix. I then added the salt to this mix and used a spatula to mix until the mass was even

Adding walnut oil to the 'malto'

Mixing the malto, walnut oil, and salt

Next, I combined the pan steamed walnuts (I did crush the walnuts to make them powdery) to the malto walnut oil and salt mixture.

Chopped walnuts with the malto mixture

I mixed until the mixture was even. Next, I spread the mixture to a thickness of 1 cm.

Spreading mixture to a thickness of 1 cm

this process requires you to get two even leveled surfaces (about 1cm in height). Next, I covered the mixture with parchment paper and used my rolling pin to smooth out the surface of the walnut dust biscuit.

using my rolling pin to even out mixture

Once I rolled it enough I got a beautiful walnut dust biscuit.

Walnut dust biscuit

Next, I cut with a circular pasta cutter

Circular walnut dust biscuit

You could also just use a knife to cut shapes on the biscuit.

Final presentation :

Walnut dust biscuit

Enjoy, and feel free to send me any questions, pictures, or other goodies to molecularfood@gmail.com

Thanks again,

Chef Tali Clavijo

Molecular Gastronomy – Emulsions Shriek hemp butter

By Chef Tali Clavijo

So today I decided I wanted to experiment with converting liquid oils into solids. How was I going to preform this experiment? Well, I decided to use the monoglyceride flakes from the ‘Texturas” line called Glice. These flakes are obtained from glycerin and fatty acids. Similar to oil, it must be broken down with a fatty element and then allowed to emulsify.

Hemp oil and glice - click to learn more or buy

The monoglyceride flakes look like this

Monoglyceride flakes - click to learn more

For this recipe I simply measured about 100ml of hemp oil and 6g of Glice

Hemp oil in lquid form - get it here

After I measure out my ingredients I simply combined them in a saucepan

Glice flakes into hemp oil - learn more buy clicking on pic

and warmed up the oil until the monoglyceride flakes completely dissolved into the oil. This happens at around 65ºC. Your new mixture should look like this

New hemp oil mixture

Next, I transferred my mixture to a different container and placed it in a bath with ice stirring constantly until the oil begins to take body.

Placing the new mixture into an ice bath

Once the oil began to take form, I stuck it in the fridge for about 12hours, or until it acquires a texture that can be worked with the spatula.

The final hemp butter could be used as a spread and tastes amazing!

hemp butter

look at how it spreads…totally transformational!

I cannot believe it's hemp butter

Feel free to ask me any questions at molecularfood@gmail.com

Your friend,

Chef Tali Clavijo