Spanish fucoidan (also called sodium alginate, sodium alginate) and calcium (calcium chloride) successfully produced molecular cuisine caviar.

Alginate 1.8g Calcium 6.8g is used as raw material for molecular food spheroidization.

brief introduction

Molecular gastronomy is becoming more and more popular, that is, using instruments or tools or safe food additives to change the physical and chemical properties of ingredients. This is a simple and handy experiment for me who came out of the chemistry laboratory. As long as we pay attention to some key points in the operation, people without chemical background can succeed. Let's do the experiment in the kitchen. Let's make simple and economical caviar with Explosicum sauce first.

Molecular Cuisine —— Method of Making Blueberry Caviar

Add 300 ml of water and boil for a while, and anthocyanins will dissolve.

Pour out the juice, and blueberries can continue to make jam or popsicles. The way to get blueberry juice can also be a juicer, but the blueberry juice cooked with lemon juice is more beautiful and purple. In order to stand out, I used this method to extract juice.

Two raw materials from molecular gastronomy, alginate 1.6g, were put into blueberry juice, and calcium 6.8 was put into 1000ml pure water.

Calcium can be dissolved with a little stirring, while algin must be whipped with electric egg beater or food processor at high speed until the white powder disappears. However, alginate is a kind of polymer, and it takes some time to dissolve after colloidal particles are fully dispersed. My chemistry teacher's occupational disease broke out again. . . In short, observe your solution carefully. If you see a white powder mass, it means that it is not dispersed enough to continue fighting; If the colloid of small juice color is evenly dispersed, if it dissolves too slowly, it can be heated slightly. It can be slightly heated to 5 or 60 degrees in microwave oven and induction cooker, then stirred for a while and left standing.

After standing for 2 hours, the injected bubbles slowly dispersed and the solution turned into jelly. It can flow with a little stirring, which is the thixotropy of the polymer. Chemistry teacher again. . . This state is very good, even and sticky. You can't see the meat with naked eyes. It may contain bubbles. It's really liquid in your mouth.

The dropper sucks the fruit juice colloid and drops it into the calcium solution of 1000 ml, and the best distance is 1 cm from the liquid surface. After dropping, it immediately becomes a small ball, and the dropped balls are insoluble in pairs, because alginate, namely sodium alginate, reacts with calcium ions to form a spherical membrane of calcium alginate, which wraps the fruit juice solution inside, so the Explosicum effect can be formed.

The dropped ball should be soaked in calcium water 1 min and then fished out.

Remove with a sieve or colander.

Transfer to another 300 ml pure water to wash away excess calcium water, remove the bitterness of calcium water, and prevent it from hardening due to excessive calcification.

Finally, all the water drops should be washed and filtered out with a colander.

Soak in a little purified water and store in the refrigerator. Don't store it for more than one day, the juice will dissolve out.

skill

It takes more time to stir when dissolving alginate, because the dissolution of polymer is two steps, swelling after dispersion and dissolving after swelling. I have taught students this before. . . .

If you see colloid, heat it a little and give it some time, it will dissolve faster in warm solution.

The "jelly" obtained after two hours is solid at rest and liquid when stirred, which is called thixotropy of polymer. This state is the best.

The distance between the dropper and the liquid level is too high, and the dripping juice ball is flattened by the liquid level to be oblate. If the distance between the dropper and the liquid surface is too low, you will encounter calcium water, and the distance is 1 cm. It's best to squeeze it flat and tidy.

You can't soak it in calcium water for too long, it will get old.