Reverse Spherification: Molecular Cooking

It had been far too long since I last spherified. I had my first (and last) experiences with the spherification technique after being given the famous kit one Christmas; you can find them around the blog.

My greatest creation was without doubt the mango and yoghurt fried egg (here's the post so you don't have to look for it); my other noteworthy experience, again with mango, was spaghetti made from this fruit, and here's the post in question. 

This time I tried the reverse spherification technique, which is based on using products that already contain calcium, so to produce the spherification reaction you only need sodium alginate, also known by its trade name Algin, or by another uglier name, E401.

 

Instead of mixing the alginate with the product and dropping it into a calcium water bath, in this case we make the water bath with Algin and drop in only the product that contains calcium, for example, as in this case, yoghurt. 

Ingredients 

• 1 litre of water
• 5 grams of Algin (sodium alginate) 
• A yoghurt and sugar.

Method

It's best to mix the Algin thoroughly with the water, because it doesn't dissolve easily. I used a hand blender and then left it to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Once the Algin bath is ready, carefully drop the yoghurt into the water using the kit's measuring spoons to get yoghurt spheres that look like bocconcini of mozzarella. Then lift them out of the bath with the slotted spoon and transfer them to clean water to remove the excess algin, which isn't easy.

As you can see, the presentation is a little macabre: they look like eyes.

🌐 Llegeix aquesta recepta en català