Fruit caviar - what is the best approach (setting agent)?

Hi all.

I'm sure that this topic has been discussed (too) many times, but it's too many (roe)-caviar and hard to find the molecular ones.

I'm thinking about making fruit caviar (f.i. with pomegranate juice), and I've seen caviar versions with gelatine, alginate bath and agar agar (are there any other approaches?). So I want to make the caviar ahead (the same day or a day ahead), but is it possible to make the caviar "pop" a bit even if I make it a day ahead? Would the caviar be solid if I use the agar agar method?

I've looked through the ChefSteps recipes (spherification), and here it says that the caviar should be stored in the same juice (without alginate/calcium) - so if I use the agar agar method, should I still keep the caviar in the juice, or should I store it in oil?

And also, if I use the agar agar method - how much should the fruit mixture cool down before dripping it in oil?

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tshewman

Agar agar will set and there won't be a pop. Keep in the same juice. For a pop easiest would be reverse spherification, frees and thaw in bath just before serving. You can keep in flavor base for a bit.

lfmichaud

The problem with reverse spherification for small sphere is that the bland "skin" of alginate will be very thick compared to the flavorful inside liquid. Maybe if you tried putting flavor in the alginate bath... It's why small caviars are usually done "a la minute".

whenric

Look at the gellan encapsulation from Ideas in Food. http://blog.ideasinfood.com/ideas_in_food/2008/12/encapsulation.html

"I made bath with 0.5% Kelcogel F and 0.05% sodium hexametaphosphate. I sheared the sequestrant in first and followed with the Gellan. A quick straining and the bath was complete. I then took spoonfuls of yogurt and dropped them in the bath. The viscosity of the bath helped hold the yogurt in a roundish shape and the Gellan reacted with the calcium by forming a fine skin on the exterior. After a few minutes in the bath we pulled out the spheres and rinsed them in cold water. We then made a quick bath of honey and water to hold the orbs. To say that I was pleased would be an understatement. This morning I was like a ten year old on Christmas day. When I realized that because we were using Gellan, the orbs could be served hot as well as cold, things got even better.