Lecithin

jondrak

Just wondering if soy lecithin can be substituted with sunflower lecithin?? I cant get my hands on soy.
Thanks

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DiggingDogFarm_65362

Yes, I use liquid sunflower lecithin and it seems to work just fine.

Samuel_68313

@diggingdogfarm How do you find it to handle? I hate my liquid soy lecithin not for the result but because it is just so unpleasant to work with, hard to clean, hard to weigh, etc.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

How do powered lecithin products compare to the liquids? I've not purchased either yet, but the liquid ones are (by all accounts I've read) somewhat hard to manage/clean because they stick so much. I imagine that they're easier to disperse than powered versions, but the convenience of measuring (and storing) powders makes me inclined to go for the powder.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

SamuelG

The sunflower lecithin that I currently use is actually in 1200 mg gel caps...it's more of a paste than a liquid.....only to be used with very warm or hot liquids.

I cut the end off the gel cap and squeeze...so no problems with clean-up.

I've also tossed the entire gel cap in hot gravies...so far the gelatin hasn't been detectable.

Chris_Young_80640

Surfactant molecules have a hydrophilic (water-loving, polar) portion and a lipophilic (oil-loving, aka hydrophobic or water-loathing, nonpolar) portion. The ratio of the masses of these two portions is called the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance, or HLB. It is a numeric value from 0 to 20 that helps classify what a surfactant does. The HLB value often helps us pick the emulsifier (surfactant) necessary to create different types of emulsions (although it's not perfect in this regard for many reasons)

Emulsifiers, such as soy lecithin are often modified to adjust their HLB values for different applications. So, for example, fluid lecithin often has an HLB value between 2 and 4, while de-oiled lecithin is frequently 7 to 8. This means that they will often act very differently depending on the application and you cannot just substitute one for the other.

Fluid lecithins are often used for water into oil emulsions (add the fluid lecithin to the oil), whereas de-oiled lecithins work much better for oil into water emulsions (add the lecithin to the water).

tshewman

@Chris - thank you! FWIW - I would personally like to see some sort of structured course that does precisely what you have done here. Explain some of the chemistry (I prefer deeper but I know I'm a bit weird) in lay and chem terms and provide context. Much like this and like the bone/collagen comment in stocks. I have Harold McGees book, but only 1/2 way through and am having a tough time bringing things into proper context. Food for thought. Pun intended.

David_C_Hensley_34865

Try this page...it has some pretty useful info, and has helped me a lot. http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/hydrocolloids-primer/

lachlan_14664

Are powdered and granulated soy lecithin interchangeable and can granulated be powdered to aid in dispersion?