Spherification is a culinary process that employs sodium alginate and either

calcium chloride Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound, a salt with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline solid at room temperature, and it is highly soluble in water. It can be created by neutralising hydrochloric acid with calcium hydroxide. Cal ...

or calcium glucate lactate to shape a liquid into squishy spheres, which visually and texturally resemble roe. The technique was documented by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

in the 1950sPotter, Jeff (2010). ''Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food'', page 305. O'Reilly Media, Inc. . and brought to the modernist cuisine by the creative team at El Bulli under the direction of chefs Ferran Adrià and Albert Adrià.

Preparation

There are two main methods for creating such spheres, which differ based on the calcium content of the liquid product to be spherified.

Basic spherification

For flavored liquids (such as fruit juices) containing no calcium, the liquid is thoroughly mixed with a small quantity of powdered sodium alginate, then dripped into a bowl filled with a cold solution of

, or other soluble calcium salt. Just as a teaspoonful of water dropped into a bowl of vegetable oil forms a little bubble of water in the oil, each drop of the alginated liquid tends to form into a small sphere in the calcium solution. Then, during a reaction time of a few seconds to a few minutes, the calcium solution causes the outer layer of each alginated liquid sphere to form a thin, flexible skin. The resulting "

popping boba Popping boba, also called Popping Pearls, is a type of "boba" used in bubble tea. Unlike traditional boba, which is tapioca-based, popping boba is made using the spherification process that relies on the reaction of sodium alginate and either cal ...

" or artificial "caviar" balls are rinsed then in water and saved for later use in food or beverages.

Reverse spherification

Reverse spherification Reverse spherification is a method of molecular gastronomy. This method is similar to spherification, different in that it is used to enclose liquid containing alcohol content, as well as liquid with calcium content such as milk and yogurt. When t ...

, for use with substances that contain calcium (e.g.

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

) or have high acid/alcohol content, requires dripping the substance (containing calcium lactate or

calcium lactate gluconate Calcium lactate gluconate, also known as GLOCAL, is a soluble salt of calcium, lactic acid and gluconic acid used in effervescent calcium tablets. Its chemical formula is Ca5(C3H5O3)6·(C6H11O7)4·2H2O. It was first developed by Sandoz, Switzerla ...

) into a bath of alginate and distilled water. A more recent technique is frozen reverse spherification, which involves pre-freezing spheres containing calcium lactate gluconate and then submerging them in the sodium alginate bath. Basic and reverse spherification methods give much the same result: a sphere of liquid held by a thin gel membrane, texturally similar to roe. However, with the basic method the membrane will continue to thicken until eventually the whole ball is jelly, and so should be used immediately. The reverse spherification method gives far more stable results and can be stored for many hours.

References

*Young, Chris (2013)
"The Science of Spherification"
ChefSteps.com Cooking techniques Molecular gastronomy Culinary terminology {{cooking-stub

Preparation

Basic spherification

Reverse spherification

See also

References