Carrageenan is a family of hydrocolloids that allows you to sagomate, to stabilize and juliawati liquid. Especially actively they interact with proteins, so are widely used in dairy products.

Three types of carrageenan are suitable for culinary use: iotta, Kappa and Lambda.

Carrageenan can be used to make desserts, as stabilizers for ice cream, to give the custard the desired consistency (without the addition of cream and eggs), for gels covering products, as well as to create dishes like processed cheese with the taste of aged Parmesan.

Origin:

Carrageenan-sulfated polysaccharides derived from red algae Rodophyceae class. The concentration and composition of carrageenan depends on the type of plant. For example, some species contain large amounts of iota and Kappa carrageenan, while others contain only a small amount of lambda. To extract carrageenan from raw algae, they are collected, dried and processed.

There are a large number of carrageenan, but only three of them are used in cooking. Greek letters κ-Carrageenan (Kappa), κ-Carrageenan (iotta), λ-Carrageenan (Lambda) are used to denote them. The letters denote the part of the carrageenan molecule to which the sulfate group is attached.

Carrageenan Functions:

One of the most important properties of carrageenan, distinguishing it from other hydrocolloids, is its interaction with proteins, which is used for thickening, stabilization or gelling of dairy products. Carrageenan is often a part of cream and yogurt.

Application:

Iota-carrageenan allows you to create stunning desserts, stabilizes ice cream and mousses from dairy products, and also allows you to give the custard the desired texture.

Kappa-carrageenan allows you to cover the products with a layer of jelly. Just submerge the ingredient in the hot solution with Kappa - karraginana and refrigerate. Carrageenan forms a thin shell around the product. The recipe "All kinds of licorice" illustrates an example of the use of carrageenan.

Often, to create the desired texture, iota and Kappa are used simultaneously. So through their combination can be obtained "reconstructed cheese", with the texture of processed cheese, but the aroma of seasoned. Aged cheeses do not melt, but carrageenan can solve this problem.

Custard of smoked Gouda, included in the recipe "Filet Mignon with a Japanese touch" is prepared using carrageenan.

Properties Of Carrageenan:

Temperature: carrageenan-based Gels are thermally reversible. Depending on the concentration of carrageenan and cations, the gelation/ melting point is between 40 and 70 C

Texture: yotta-carrageenan in combination with calcium salts forms soft and elastic gels. Kappa-carrageenan usually forms hard and brittle gels, but with potassium salts - elastic and elastic. Thanks to various combinations, you can get the desired texture.

Appearance: Kappa - carrageenan - based gels are slightly turbid, while yotta-carrageenan forms transparent.

Taste: excellent for hard gels.

Mouth sensations: yotta - carrageenan-based gels can be described as" melting in the mouth", while the texture of Kappa - carrageenan ranges from soft and brittle (tofu) to hard (cucumber) textures.

Freezing / defrosting: Kappa - carrageenan gels are not stable, yotta - carrageenan Is stable.

Synersis (water release): synersis is peculiar only to Kappa - carrageenan-based gels (especially in low concentrations).

Shering: when broken in a blender, Kappa - carrageenan forms a liquid gel, yotta - carrageenan becomes a liquid, and after some time it thickens again.

Use of carrageenan:

Concentration: thickening requires 0.02 - 1% yotta - carrageenan to create a gel - 1-1,5 %. Kappa-carrageenan thickens at a concentration of 0.02-1.5 % and forms gels at concentrations above 1.5 %.

In order to prepare the custard without yolks requires 0.2% iota and 0.15% Kappa carrageenan. For cold terrine, use 0.25 % iota and Kappa carrageenan, respectively. For fragile jelly requires 0.2% Kappa carrageenan and 0.4% carob gum. To create a jelly shell for products, use 0.45 % iota and 0.35% Kappa carrageenan. To give a cold liquid pudding concentration, use 0.2 % Kappa and 0.35 % yotta-carrageenan. Keep in mind that these values are averaged and depend on the calcium or potassium content of the products used.

Dispersion: iota and Kappa carrageenan are dissolved in cold water with a blender. For better dissolution, you can pre-mix carrageenan with sugar.

Hydration: Carrageenan is required to be heated to 79 C. the Gel is formed during cooling.

Lambda carrageenan is soluble in cold liquids. Just add the required amount of powder and beat with a blender until thick.

Gelation: Carrageenan to form a gel when cooled below 45 C. Stirring of the liquid containing yotta - carrageenan will prevent gelation, but after a "rest" form a gel.

You may have noticed that carrageenan is similar to sodium alginate (due to its sensitivity to calcium ions), so it can be used in spherification. Use 1.5 % for bath in reverse spherification with calcium or 5% with potassium phosphate.