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Cape Crystal Brands Blog

Brief Origins of Agar Agar a Food Gum and Stabilizer

Agar-agar is a Malaysian name with a Japanese origin. Chinese settlers in the east Indies introduced the use of Japanese agar as a food to the locals. To make the product more inviting to the population they called it ā€œagaragarā€ which is a name used by the Malayans to indicate certain seaweeds and the jellies that were made from them.

How to Use Guar Gum in Your Recipes?

With Guar Gum in your kitchen pantry, creating gluten-free delicacies is no longer a hassle. Whether you are a food lover, up-and-coming chef, or just someone who dabbles with ingredients, a thickening agent like Guar Gum, with its several benefits, will have you making yummy desserts and dishes like never before.

Fruit Pectin Reduced Radiation in Children

TheĀ Swiss Medical WeeklyĀ published the results of an important study in its November 12, 2004, issue verifying that appleĀ pectinĀ was seen to reduce the Cesium-137* uptake in Ukrainian children after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. The study was conducted at the Belgrade Institute of Radiation Safety, in Belarus, led by V.B. Nesterenko.Ā 

Adding Tara Gum for a Smoother Ice Cream

Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or mango… No matter the flavor, we all can agree that ice cream is simply perfect. It’s cool, creamy, super-delicious, and just a pure delight to eat. Speaking of perfection, have you ever wondered what gives your favorite ice cream that dreamy, melt-in-your-mouth feel?Ā  Its Tara gum.

The Ultimate Guide for Using Xanthan Gum in Your Recipes

If you check the label on any store-bought ice cream, bread, or salad dressing, chances are thatĀ xanthan gumĀ is listed as an ingredient. This flavorless, corn-based component helps stabilize foods to give them more substance.

It's great for use in baking and home cooking, as xanthan gum works well to thicken sauces and gravies. It gives gluten-free bread a chewier element and binds creamy liquids together.

Gluten-Free, Old Fashion Butter Milk Biscuits

You can make these gluten free old fashion biscuits in about twenty minutes with this great recipe. Even though they are entirely gluten free these biscuits are still extremely tender and fluffy, and the perfect accompaniment to a country sausage in biscuit breakfast, thanks to the addition of a bit of xanthan gum. And there are no preservative.

Quick Sausage Gravy Recipe

Here is a simple, quick, and hearty recipe that will put a smile on any face. Sausage gravy is a traditional Southern breakfast dish in the United States. Though this is the classic Southern sausage gravy, we have updated it by exchanging the cornstarch or flour for xanthan gum.

Super Creamy Yummy Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

This is a simple and easy to make, no-cooking recipe with the most delicious vanilla ice cream you have ever tasted. The secret to super creamy yummy ice cream is to use heavy cream, half-and-half or milk with a higher percentage milk fat, such as whole milk. If the ice cream is made with a lower percentage of milk fat, it will become icy. Adding Tara gum is the secret ingredient.

How to Use Locust Bean Gum

You may or may not have heard of this oddly named ingredient used in a number of prepared food items as a thickening and gelling agent. It called the locust bean gum. Locust bean gum has a powder-like structure and is commonly used for several culinary dishes.

Gluten-Free Chocolaty Fudgy Brownie Blasts - Recipe

SERVES: 4 • PREPARATION TIME: 30 MINUTES • TOTAL TIME: 90 MINUTES

This is the recipe for you, gluten-free lovers. Our chocolaty Brownie Blasts are exploding with chocolate flavor using locust bean gum. They are soft, chewy delights that will have everyone talking. They take no time to prepare andĀ are easy to make, too.

Delicious and Magic Spherification Using Sodium Alginate

There are two techniques that use sodium alginate to make spheres whereby a flavored liquid is encapsuled by a delicate outer skin. The primary one is direct spherification.

What Is Tara Gum and How Does It Work?

Tara gum is a natural organic ingredient produced from the milled seeds of theĀ Caesalinia spinosaĀ tree.Ā Tara gumĀ has a soft, smooth texture that is similar in composition to both locust bean and guar gum. But compared to other thickeners and stabilizers, it is distinguished by its ability to dissolve both in hot water and cold water. It gives the foods the ability to conserve its texture without affecting its flavor. It is also odorless, and tasteless which are valuable characteristics, making it highly useful in a variety of foods and beverages.

How to Use Agar Agar in Your Cooking

So why would you want to use agar-agar in cooking? Well, Vegan, vegetarian, and halal baking can sometimes feel more complicated than it needs to be. This is because meat and animal byproducts can sneak into the strangest things. Even beer, non-dairy creamer, and AltoidsĀ® might have animal byproducts.

How to Select the Perfect Gum for Any Recipe

Because of the wide selection, cooks and chefs can be confused as to which gum provides the best outcome in a recipe. There are so many to choose from. These three tables will help you select the perfect gum for any recipe.

The Importance of Gums, Emulsifiers, & Stabilizers

Ā As a foodie, chef, or cook, you probably already know just how important it is to get the right balance of ingredients in every creation. That is, of course, why recipes and measuring tools exist! But while every recipe contains a delicate ratio of this to that (give or take a pinch), there are a few key underdog ingredients that rarely get the praise or recognition they deserve.

All About Molecular Gastronomy

The term molecular gastronomy was coined in 1988 by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French chemist Hervé This, who developed the approach of exploring the scientific principles behind traditional cooking techniques. Molecular caviar is made through the technique of spherification, where a flavored liquid, such as a fruit juice, is combined with powdered sodium alginate, then added by droplets into a solution of cold calcium chloride, whereupon the liquid forms small jellylike spheres that resemble caviar. Spherification kits are available for home cooks who want to try the technique.

FREE RECIPE BOOKS - 250 Delicious Recipes

FREE RECIPE BOOKS.Ā Cape Crystal Brands has created a number of interesting cookbooks you will not find anywhere else. They provide some creative and delicious recipes from main meals to delectable deserts. The recipes incorporate Cape Crystal Brands specialty ingredients for added gastronomical creativity. Just click the link to download.

Important Kappa Carrageenan Facts

Kappa carrageenan isĀ aĀ red seaweed extractĀ taken specifically from Kappaphycus alvarezii. Like other types of carrageenan it is used as a gelling, thickening and stabilizing agent. When mixed with water kappa carrageenan creates a strong and firm solid gel that may be brittle in texture.

Amazing Agar Agar the Vegan Gelatin Substitute

One of our most popular ingredients is agar agar. This product is made with one hundred percent naturally growing seaweed. It is vegan, non-GMO, allergen-free, gluten-free, and Kosher certified. It has an outstanding gel strength compared to most other brands offered, at 900 gm/cm2.

Secret to Great Desert Toppings

Nothing beats a classic dessert like cheesecake. However, most cheesecake aficionados would agree that no cheesecake is complete without its berry topping. When you top a cheesecake with such a fruity compote, it can turn plain cheesecake to extraordinary. But very often, adding that special fruit-flavored topping over cheesecake can be inconsistent. Even worse, the topping eventually waters down the surface of that perfect filling you worked so hard for.Ā 

EŠ°Ń•Ńƒ Vеgаn Chосоlаtе Pаnnа Cоttа Recipe

Panna cotta is a classic Italian dessert which is dairy thickened pudding. Typically it is thickened with gelatin, but to make a vegan version we use agar agar which is a Kosher plant based thickener. The name "panna cotta" translated from the Italian means cooked cream. The original version of this famous desert was thickened, of all things, using gelatin derived from fish bones. But there are no bones about it here - this tasty recipe is all vegan as well as being a heavenly chocolate, too.

Spherification - The making of Faux Caviar

How to create beautiful and flavorful Spherification as seen in modern cuisines.

50% OFF Awesome Spherification Spoon

For your awesome spherification spoon at 50% retail price, please click here.

Reverse Spherification

This tasty and artistic food recipe requires the use of Sodium Alginate and Calcium Lactate Gluconate. Calcium Lactate Gluconate it is ideal to increase theĀ calciumĀ content of the main ingredient in the reverseĀ spherification process. But a second ingredient, Xanthan Gum, which is a thickener is often also usedĀ when the main ingredient density is too liquid to form spheres in the alginate bath.

Three Methods of Spherification

Spherification is the culinary art of encapsulating liquids into edible and decorative globes shaped like caviar eggs. There are three methods of accomplishing this depending on the calcium content of the liquid to be encapsulated. The most common is simply called, spherification,Ā ...

Spherification Process

Spherification is the culinary process of shaping a liquid into spheres usually using sodium alginate such as Cape Crystal Brands Sodium Alginate mixed withĀ either calcium chloride or calcium glucate lactate. Upon completion the result appearsĀ to resemble colorful caviarĀ when filled with a variety of fruit juices.

Carrageenan As Size

In the art of fabric and paper marbling, Ā the solution on which the colors are floated is referred to as size. Ā Marbling size can be made of several different types of gel or gum, but the finest and most detailed marbling is done on Cape Crystal Brands Premium Carrageenan Size. It is offered in 2-oz, 8-oz and 16-oz packages.

Sodium Alginate Uses

Besides the food industry where sodium alginate is used in spherification in modern gastronomy, it has many beneficial uses across a wide variety of industries. AlginatesĀ are salts of alginic acid taking the form of sodium, calcium and/or ammonium alginate precipitated from brown seaweed (algae).

Introducing Chef Edmund

Every great idea starts with a problem. Ours was simple enough, really: time and time again, we found ourselves struggling with low quality cooking materials and ingredients. More often than not, the ingredients already available on the market were either too costly, or more trouble than they were worth.

About CapeCrystal

We are a specialty premium food ingredient supplier for cooks and chefs throughout the USA and Canada. We offer such ingredients as agar agar, carrageenans, sodium alginate, tara, locust bean and many other gums, fruit powders and related items. We offer free cookbooks with many delicious and tasty recipes using our ingredients that you can download from our website.

Keep in Touch

Download FREE Cook Books

Cape Crystal Brands has created a number of interested cookbooks you will not find anywhere else to provide some creative and delicious recipes from main meals to delectable deserts. The recipes incorporate Cape Crystal Brands specialty ingredients for added gastronomical creativity. Just click on the links below to download. Let us know your favorite creation. Between theĀ 5 available cookbooks there are 200 delicious recipes. You are bound to find a family favorite here.

Click here to make your selection.