Cooking with Agar

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Cooking with Agar

 

 

Agar is a natural gelatin that can be used in recipes that call for

conventional bovine gelatin. Gelatin is a slaughterhouse by-product

derived from collagen, animal hides, skin and crushed bones. Agar is

derived from an edible sea vegetable and is rich in iodine, calcium,

phosphorous and trace elements. Desserts made with agar set at room

temperature unlike gelatin, which must be chilled.

 

You can buy agar in flakes, powder, or bars. To substitute agar in a

recipe that uses gelatin, you need three times as much agar as the

amount of gelatin called for in the recipe. Three teaspoons agar gels

1 cup of liquid. When citrus juice is in the recipe, you may need to

use slightly more agar. Agar flakes should be soaked in liquid to

dissolve before being stirred or cooked, just sprinkle onto the

surface of the liquid in the recipe and soak for 10 minutes.

 

Unlike gelatin, agar can be reheated after it has gelled and then

allowed to set up again. This is helpful when experimenting with

using agar in a recipe. Look for agar flakes at your health food

store.