What are alternative gelling agents to gelatine? And what are their properties?
I recently was making some orange jelly which was going to be dipped in chocolate. I couldn't use gelatine to set the jelly as it returned to a liquid below the temperature of the melted chocolate. What other gelling agents could I have used, and what are their properties?
I'd like to expand my knowledge of what does what so I can choose the best agent for setting a jelly in a particular situation.
Best Answer
For your application you may want to use agar. It is easy to find, gels at room temperature, and will remain so to about 90C. The acidity of the orange juice will slowly (a few days) break down the agar, but it should give you enough time for a dish. Other agents include:
- sodium alginate
- carrageenan
- xantham gum
A good description of the gelling agents from a cooking perspective can be found in the sites on molecular gastronomy such as tech blog of the French Culinary Institute or Martin Lersch's hydrocolloid recipe collection.
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What are the different gelling agents?
The important gums that find application in food as gelling agents include alginate, pectin, carrageenan, gellan, gelatin, agar, modified starch, methyl cellulose and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose. The gel characteristics of some of the important gelling agents are summarized in Table 2 (Williams 2006).What is gelling agent gelatine?
Gelatine is a colourless, odourless mixture of proteins extracted from pigs' skin or bones and cartilage. It is used to thicken and stabilize various jellies, desserts etc.What is gelling agent made out of?
Typical gelling agents include natural gums, starches, pectins, agar-agar and gelatin. Often they are based on polysaccharides or proteins. Examples are: Alginic acid (E400), sodium alginate (E401), potassium alginate (E402), ammonium alginate (E403), calcium alginate (E404) - polysaccharides from brown algae.What is agar gelling agent?
Agar Agar is a jelly-like substance, derived from seaweed, with many uses. It's sold in stores as a powder or flake. It's most common use is as a vegan gelatin substitute, but can be used as a thickener or stabilizer for fruit preserves, ice cream, custards, or even soups.VEGETARIAN SUBSTITUTES FOR GELATIN: The test
More answers regarding what are alternative gelling agents to gelatine? And what are their properties?
Answer 2
Corn starch will set acid fruit to a soft jelly, but it will go very soft at high temperatures. If you coat sweet moulds with chocolate and cool them well, you can fill them quite successfully with cooled but not yet set jellies.
Answer 3
You might try modified tapioca starch, if you can heat the base of the jelly enough to set the starch; I've only used the regular form, but the processing of "modified" tapioca is supposed to remain stable at temperature (somewhere near 50C)
I'm also not sure how well tapioca handles acids (which 'orange jelly' might be); I know agar has issues with acid.
For a list and description of alternative gelling agents, see Cook's Thesaurus: Gelatins (and possibly, Starch Thickeners)
Answer 4
The only ones I'm familiar with are"
- Leaf gelatine - made from animal protein
- Powdered gelatine - made from animal protein
- Agar Agar - made from seaweed
- Arrowroot - made from plant material
- Pectin - made from plant material
Any of the above are, suitable for making a variety of items. such as jam, jellies, marmalades etc. The degree of 'firmness' of the product is related to the quantity of gelling agent to the amount of water.
Answer 5
I haven't used it, but I've heard that Agar-agar can be used to solidify hot things.
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