Agar Agar (thickener)
What is Agar Agar:
- Agar Agar is a sea vegetable used in Asia for molded-jellies.
- It is available flaked or ground. Flaked and ground are not raw and have to dissolved in very hot water prior to using in a recipe.
How to use it:
- Agar Agar is an excellent replacement for gelitan, which is dirived from animal hooves.
- Unlike animal gelatin, Agar will set-p at room temperature.
- It can be strong in seaweed flavor if you use large amounts so you may need to up the flavors in your recipe.
- Agar Agar can be very firm on it’s own. Combining it with other thickeners such as lecithin and / or Irish moss can make it more delicate.
- Acidic foods (such as lemon or pineapple juice) can interfere with the gelling of Agar Agar so you may need to increase its volume.
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Formula to gel 2 cups of liquid using agar agar powder:
- 1 tsp agar agar powder
- 1 cup liquid
Preparation:
- Soak in 1 cup of liquid for several minutes and then simmer for a couple of minutes until it dissolves.
- OR
- Put the agar agar powder into 1/2 cup of cold water to form a thick heavy paste, then add it to 1/2 cup of hot water and cook, whisking constantly, until it forms a light syrup. Cool slightly, and add to other ingredients (up to 1 more cup of liquid or soft food)
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Formula to gel 2 cups of liquid using agar agar flakes:
- 2 Tbsp agar agar flakes.
- 1 cup of liquid
Preparation:
- Soak in one cup of liquid for several minutes and then simmer for 5 minutes until it dissolves.
- Cool, add to other ingredients (up to 1 more cup of liquid.)
Posted on Sunday, December 26th, 2010 at 11:38 pm. Filed under: Special Ingredients RSS 2.0 feed.
Can you mix agar agar flakes with almondmilk in a vita-mix to make a pudding? If so, how much? THanks
Good question, I have no idea Chris. Never tried it before. I would use Irish moss or chia seeds (ground in spice grinder).
Do In cool& refrigerate agar agar before mixing it into recipe?
I never have Lyeta.
I want to prepare my own agar powder and flakes from raw agar. How do I go about it? Are there books that can help me with it? Thanks.
Good morning Shirley… I have no idea about finding a book just on agar agar. I would think something like that exists in this world of knowledge. Try googling it. :)
Hope I don’t sound too silly here. Agar agar is expensive stuff and this is new terrain for me. I have flakes, so after step 1 will I have 1 cup of gel? The additional liquid mentioned in step 2, is that to create a looser gel, before adding to a recipe? Or is the 1 cup of agar gel the recommended amount to thicken 1 cup of liquid in a recipe. And lastly, how much of the basic agar gel is needed to substitute in a recipe calling for Irish moss gel? Thank you so much for clairfying this.
Best,
Naomi
Ok Naomi, give me minute to think this through, I just wanted you to know that I here. :) brb
Ok Naomi… go back over to the recipe for the cake.. and look in the comment section. I wrote it up for you there so you didn’t have to bounce back and forth. I tried to simplify it for you. :)