Sodium alginate granular gel

　　　　Sodium alginate is a thickening and gelling agent that forms a thermally stable gel in the presence of calcium. This property allows the cook to make small gel spheres in a technique called spheroidization. Sodium alginate has been used in the food industry for many years to produce gelatinous foods, for example, filling pies in prepared cocktail olives.

　　Alginate or alginic acid is extracted from brown algae and most often exists in the form of sodium salt.

　　It consists of long chains of carbohydrate units-these long scaffolds enable it to function as a very effective thickener at low concentrations (for example, 1%). Gels formed from alginate have an amazing ability to withstand heating to temperatures as high as 150℃ without melting, allowing them to be used in thermal applications such as gravy.

　　When alginate is added to a liquid, it will be used as a thickener. In the presence of calcium ions, the mixture containing alginate will form a gel. Calcium ions insert themselves between alginate chains and allow them to interlock and form gels.

　　Alginate should be added to the liquid at a final concentration of 0.5-1%. However, the solution does not need to be heated with additives to gel (unlike agar and karaganin), so it can be used with the original preparation. When the solution is transferred into a solution of calcium chloride or calcium lactate (concentration is 1-2%), beads or gel lines can be formed. These beads can then be taken out of the coagulation bath, rinsed and immediately consumed to provide solid beads with a liquid center-where the viscosity of the liquid will depend on the amount of alginate initially added.

　　Spheroidization method

　　There are two main methods to create this kind of sphere, which vary according to the calcium content in the product. For calcium-free substances, mix the liquid with sodium alginate and drop it into the cold solution of calcium chloride or calcium carbonate. When used with calcium-containing substances, it is necessary to drop the substances into alginate bath. Both methods produce the same result: liquid spheres held by thin gel films are similar to caviar.

　　Basic sandblasting

　　Spheroidization is a process of manipulating seasoning liquid with gelling agent to form a film around the liquid and produce spherical capsules that burst in the mouth. Spheres are often called caviar, wonton or bubbles.

　　Basic spheroidization is more simple and ideal for obtaining spheres with ultra-thin films.

　　science

　　For this method, sodium alginate is dispersed in flavoring agent and calcium is dissolved in water bath. The spheroidizing solution should not be too acidic or high in calcium. The pH value must be higher than 3.6. Usually, 0.5% sodium alginate solution works well.

　　1% calcium bath.

　　Equipment/ingredients

　　sodium alginate

　　-Calcium lactate/calcium gluconate

　　-and hold an immersion mixer.

　　Pipette or syringe (for caviar)

　　-Precision scale (preferably 0.01g)

　　Reverse spheroidization

　　The technology of reverse injection is more general than basic spheroidization, because it can spheroidize almost any product.

　　Whether alkaline ionization is opposite to the liquid in which sodium alginate and calcium are dispersed.

　　This method can be used to form spheres of liquid with high milk, alcohol or acidity. Spheres can be made in advance and taken without affecting the texture or flavor, because once the coccidium is removed from the sodium alginate bath and "washed" in water, the gelation process stops. The sphere will have a thicker film, which is very good for electroplating, but it does lead to the additional texture of the glue stick film.

　　science

　　1% to 2% calcium is added to the seasoning liquid, however, this is very variable and depends on the calcium content of the liquid. Use a hand-held immersion stirrer and a sodium alginate bath with a concentration of about 0.5%.

　　Equipment/ingredients

　　sodium alginate

　　-Calcium lactate

　　-Precision scale (preferably 0.01g)

　　-and hold an immersion mixer.

　　-Measuring spoon (for larger spheres)

　　Hint, hint, skill

　　Avoid caking

　　It is easiest to add the powder to the liquid bit by bit while constantly mixing with the electric hand mixer.

　　Spread out!

　　It may take some time for sodium alginate to be completely dispersed in water with a hand-held immersion stirrer, and the process may take 5 minutes. If alginate is not properly dispersed, small pieces are visible when the solution is coated on the back of the spoon. Excessive stirring of the base liquid during the preparation process should be avoided, because bubbles are easy to stay in the solution due to their thickness.

　　Foamless sphere

　　It may take up to 24 hours to leave the sodium alginate solution for rest so that trapped bubbles can escape.

　　For basic spheroidization:

　　If the sodium alginate solution is too thick a liquid, such as mud, mix the sodium alginate in water and then add the seasoning liquid.

　　Mixing sodium alginate into 1/3 of the liquid, and then adding the remaining liquid, which reduces the amount of bubbles trapped in the solution.

　　Reverse spheroidization:

　　-Do not let the sodium alginate bath reach room temperature before use to reduce the viscosity of the solution.

　　Rotating the sphere in the sodium alginate bath ensures that the entire surface of the sphere is evenly "cooked" and has a uniform film thickness on all sides.

　　Consider calcium content

　　Do not mix sodium alginate into tap water or mineral water if it has a high calcium content, as this will trigger the gelation process before you even start.

　　Keep the bathroom clean.

　　Keep the "bath" of calcium (for alkaline spheroidization) or sodium alginate (for reverse spheroidization) clean, and any small particles suspended from the previous spheres that have broken may interfere with the process. Just use a fine screen to remove any particles.

　　Corrected acidification degree

　　If the main component is too acidic (PH <5), the basic evaporation process will not work. If necessary, before adding sodium citrate, sodium citrate (if it is an aqueous liquid) or water for reducing the density of the main component (if it is a thick liquid) can be added to the main component to reduce the acidity.