Tang Caviar

In reading about Molecular Gastronomy a bit, I've been most fascinated by people creating perfect spheres (or 'caviar') out of liquids. The method I first ran across involves using Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride - two ingredients not usually found in the grocery store - so I hadn't had an opportunity yet to play around with that method.

But when I read about the TGRWT #15 entry from Ana at Céu da Boca, in which she created white pepper caviar using Agar, I knew I needed to give it a try. Agar, a type of powdered seaweed, is something I knew would be available at Uwajimaya. Dan had to run down there today to pick up some Ti leaves and poi for dinner tonight, so I asked him to pick up some agar, too.

For my first attempt at 'caviar', I decided to use something flavorful, but cheap, to avoid wasting ingredients if it was a total failure. I made up some Tang, measured a 1/2 cup (roughly 100ml), and put it in a saucepan to boil. I tried to measure 1.5 grams of the agar powder, but discovered my kitchen scale doesn't read below 1 gram, so I had to kinda wing it. I poured what seemed like about 1.5 grams into the Tang, whisked it in, and then pulled it off the heat. I had already put a small bowl of olive oil in the fridge, which I pulled out. I used an eye dropper, and sucked up some of the Tang agar mixture, then dripped it into the olive oil. As the mixture drops through the air, it forms a perfect little sphere, then it hits the olive oil and cools. Since agar is solid at room temperature, the balls solidify as they drop and enter the olive oil. I found that they float initially, but then drop to the bottom of the bowl as more drop in, breaking the surface tension a bit, so I could keep making 'caviar' for awhile before I had built up a pile in the bottom of the bowl. At that point, I poured the olive oil and caviar through a strainer (reserving the olive oil in another bowl), and then rinsed the caviar off with cold water.

The result are brilliant orange, glossy spheres that taste a bit like Tang. I think the ratio of agar to liquid was too high, resulting in very solid balls. Also, they tasted a little chemically, which is either from the Tang getting boiled, or from the agar. I'll need to try out plain water next, to test that theory. I'd also like to try out the other method, to see if it results in spheres with a liquid center, which I think would be preferable.