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I am (clearly) not an agar-agar expert, nor is Victoria (whose first love is gelatin-based gels), but we agreed on the following:
RAINDROP CAKE TOPPING SERIES
(Very weird.) Next, I tried a series of experiments with the tea, beginning the same proportion of liquid to agar as the Blackberry Fluff advises (1 3/4 cups liquid to 1 1/2 teaspoons agar-agar), decreasing the amount of agar each time: 1 1/2 teaspoons, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon-and while the first two experiments were similarly rubbery, the last, with the least agar, was looser, smoother, and spoonable. The result was that rubbery, over-gelled thing it did not want whipped cream folded into it, as the Blackberry Fluff recipe instructs, and when instead I mashed up the gel as best I could to fold the cream in, it gelled the cream, too. I experimented with making agar-agar gel using blackberry juice (inspired by Amanda Hesser's Blackberry Fluff) and bottled sweet tea in my blackberry juice experiments, I tried to follow Amanda's recipe, simply subbing agar-agar for gelatin 1:1, as some advise. And this can be very discouraging to the agar-curious. And yet, it's hard to know exactly how much to use-resources vary hugely on just about everything agar-related, including what it can or can't be used for, how much to use, whether or not to boil the liquid and for how long. What's more, use too much and you'll be surprised with something very surprising indeed: plasticky, drum-taut, unpleasant to eat.
RAINDROP CAKE TOPPING HOW TO
Ahead, find out exactly what agar is and how to use it in place of gelatin. However, there is one product that may come close-the algae-derived agar-agar, aka agar. But alas, even the staunchest of vegans would admit that nothing can match gelatin's elastic, jolly properties. I've been crossing my fingers, as a vegetarian, for a gelatin substitute that would replicate that texture perfectly. All of them owe their texture to gelatin, in all its swingy, bouncy, jiggly, chewy glory.
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Marshmallows, many chewy candies, panna cotta. What might be a surprise-especially if you're not vegetarian, vegan, or avoiding pork for any reason-is just how many things include gelatin as an ingredient. Agar-agar looks and acts similar to gelatin, but it's made without any animal products at all, making it just right for any home cook or baker. The good news is that there is a vegan substitute for gelatin called agar-agar, which is a product derived from algae.
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