Make Molecular Gourmet with Spherification

Ever considered spherification of food before? Whether you are a self proclaimed master home chef or a restaurant owner, if you are reading this, food presentation is certainly of utmost importance to you. With that said, spherification is a newer concept that helps you reduce your food into small or large jelly like balls or spheres for presentation. They are countless applications of alginate spherification, although it doesn’t take rocket science to master this art of food spherification. You simply need some products that can help you in carrying out the process of making food spheres, most of them are only made available by specialist in food science industry.

How is it done?

For molecular cooking, you’ll need the product, the chemicals to support the process and the right equipment needed to carry out the metamorphosis of your food. From farm to fork, the food travels a long journey and spherification is not commonly one of them. When you use this technique for aesthetic, social as well as technical benefits, it becomes a whole new lab to work on.

Spherification turns your food into gel ball with the use of agar agar. Spherification agar agar is precisely developed to give your food a perfect spherical shape, enhancing the aesthetic value of the food, without tapering with its taste and feel. It adds gourmet style to simple food and can be applied in various recipes and processes.

Where is food spherification applicable?

Ever thought of fruit reverse process? We have seen how fruits are cut into different shapes, how fruit scoops are made for salads and cocktails using scoopers and how juice is extracted out of fruits and vegetables but have you ever thought about creating a fruit scoop out of juice? Be it fresh juice or canned, you can always get fruit scoops out of them if you know the process and have spherification agar agar with you.

From fancy fruit caviar and cake toppings to carbonated cocktail spheres and fruit reverse- the applications are aplenty and a lot is left to your imagination and creativity. So whether you plan to present a scrumptious fancy meal at home for a special occasion or intend to liven up your restaurant with innovative and ingenious food menu, you are just a few steps away from mastering the gourmet art of spherification with the use of sodium alginate and agar agar. You can also use these products for forming jams, jellies and marmalades if used appropriately.

You can add this component to the consumable liquid of your choice to fortify it and increase its content of calcium. These calcium ions when added to the liquid react with sodium alginate. This helps in creating gel coating on the outside to from the cover of the sphere. This is essentially required for the process of reverse spherification, which is a popular and unique technique used by various specialty chefs.

When you are into food business, whether it is a restaurant or food packaging industry, it is important to choose quality products and ensure all ingredients are food grade to avoid rejections and license cancellation. It is also inhumane to use non-food grade chemicals as food additives.

The author takes keen interest in food gastronomy, specifically use of spherification agar agar and alginate spherification.