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Spherification (Making “Caviar”)

May 1, 2012 by Jennifer Che 27 Comments

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This post is part of a larger series devoted to a Molecular Gastronomy focused meal I made: Molecular Gastronomy with an Asian Twist

Spherification is a modern molecular gastronomy technique that was first invented at El Bulli by Ferran Adria in 2003. While visiting a company called Griffith España, Adria and his team discovered a cool Mexican sauce with little spheres floating inside. They learned from the company sodium alginate was the key ingredient used to make these spheres.

Adria and his team got some samples of the ingredient from Griffith España and started experimenting on their own. Soon they were making all different kinds of spheres with all sorts of liquids.

Armed with sodium alginate and calcium chloride, I set out to try my own hand at making some spheres.
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There are two key kinds of spherification techniques, each with its own pluses and minuses. If you’re short on time (e.g., if you have only one day of prep time), the Basic Spherification technique is your only option. This technique is easier and is great for making small caviar-like balls. The biggest negative is that once the spheres form, the jellification process does not stop. This means the spheres need to be served immediately. Otherwise, over time,  the balls will cease to be filled with liquid, instead becoming solid, gelatinous balls. Furthermore, this method does not work as well for acidic liquids.

Reverse Spherification is a more complicated technique which requires a few days advance preparation. Instead of mixing your “stuff” with sodium alginate and adding to a calcium chloride bath, you add your “stuff” to a sodium alginate bath (thus reverse spherification). The biggest benefit is that the jellification process stops upon formation of the balls (the gel is only the outer shell, not mixed into the inner liquid), which means you can store the caviar for longer periods of time before serving.

Additionally, this method is not as sensitive to acidic liquids, giving you much more freedom in the types of pearls you can make (virtually anything!). The biggest downside is that you had to let the sodium alginate bath rest for 24-28 hours (to remove air bubbles) before you can use it.
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Today I will only be describing the basic spherification technique.

The first step in making spheres is the dissolution of sodium alginate in water. Sodium alginate is not very soluble in water, so it will taking plenty of agitation in order to get it to dissolve. I used an immersion blender and probably stood there for a good 5-10 minutes before the solid completely dissolved.
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Once in solution, bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. When it reaches a boil, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, dissolve the calcium chloride in water (this is quite easily done).
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Now is the fun part! You have your two basic starting materials and the rest is up to your creativity. Essentially, mix the sodium alginate with whatever liquid you want at a roughly 2:3 ratio v/v (liquid: sodium alginate solution). You will need to experiment a bit to get the right ratio. Certain liquids were more viscous than others and I had a harder time forming good spheres sometimes.
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Since I was mainly experimenting, I would just use a spoon and mix a small volume (like 3 mL) of a liquid (e.g., wine, juice, or sauce) with a slightly smaller volume (like 2 mL) of the sodium alginate solution. I would then use the syringe to suck up the liquid and slowly drip my mixture calcium chloride bath.
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It was like magic! Instead of dispersing, the drips would solidify into little bubbles. It was so pretty.
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Ha ha, I know these matcha balls kind of look like peas. That’s what happens if you use a pretty thick liquid on the inside (matcha powder does not dissolve easily in water!)
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I played around and made all sorts of different kind of spheres.

Typically, the less viscous the liquid, the better the shape of the spheres.
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Isn’t this gorgeous? I made some spheres out of red wine.

Notes on Spherification
Certain types of liquids don’t work super well with this recipe. For example, if your liquid is too acidic, it won’t form proper balls. One way to address this is to add sodium citrate to your sodium alginate solution to bring down the acidity of your liquid. I haven’t personally tried this, but apparently sodium citrate is a bit tart and salty, so adding a bit too much could affect the flavor of your final product.

We did notice that really complex flavors were significantly affected by the chemical reactions involved. Our spherified red wine (Chateau Le Tour Carnet) lost its characteristic deep tannins and instead became much more fruity and light. The Cabernet part of the blend seemed to disappear while the Merlot portion became more pronounced.
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Spherified scotch whisky lost a lot of its sweet and floral notes yet maintained a strong “peaty” characteristic.

My guess is that fruity, less complex wines and drinks in general would work really well with this technique.

Enjoy!

Spherification

Sodium Alginate Bath
3g sodium alginate
325g water

Calcium Chloride Bath
5g calcium chloride
1000g (1 L) water

Syringe
liquid of choice (200 mL)

Dissolve sodium alginate in water, using an immersion blender to get the powder in solution (could take 5-10 minutes). In a pot, bring the solution to a boil and then let cool to room temperature. In a separate bowl, dissolve the calcium chloride in water.

In a small bowl, mix together your liquid of choice with the sodium alginate solution in a roughly 2:3 v/v ratio (liquid of choice: sodium alginate solution). Using a pipette or syringe, gently squeeze the liquid out drop by drop into the calcium chloride bath. Small spheres will form. Let the spheres “cook” for about 1 minute before removing them from the bath using a slotted spoon. Rinse with water before serving.

Serve immediately.

Note: you can continue to reuse the calcium chloride bath as you mix together portions of the sodium alginate bath with various different kinds of liquids. Have fun!
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Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: molecular gastronomy

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Comments

  1. ChubbyChineseGirl says

    May 1, 2012 at 10:51 am

    this is the coolest post ever!!!! =) so fun and interesting…. i love elements of surprise when eating

    Reply
  2. Emily Ku says

    May 1, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    Have you had the popping boba balls yet?  I saw them at Red Mango, and they look similar to this, but filled with fruit juice.  

    Reply
  3. Mike Park says

    May 1, 2012 at 11:23 pm

    So cool! I wonder if you could make something that tastes like caviar with the right fishy briny liquid…

    Reply
  4. old car 90720 says

    May 2, 2012 at 12:24 am

    This is a GREAT post!

    Reply
  5. Jessica Hampton says

    May 2, 2012 at 4:20 am

    I’ve always loved your posts and recipes but anything with spherified (is that a word?) Macallan gets a win in my book!

    Reply
  6. Audrey says

    February 2, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    How far in advance can you make the sodium alginate syrup for caviar?

    Reply
  7. Jennifer Che says

    February 2, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Hi Audrey – I *think* it should be stable for quite some time as long as it doesn’t contact the calcium chloride solution. I think we left ours out for a couple hours and it was fine. I’ve never tried overnight, so I can’t comment on it. Good luck!

    Reply
  8. sensationcaviar says

    May 21, 2013 at 4:03 pm

    Useful info. Hope to
    see more good posts in the future.

    Reply
  9. Jon Lovett says

    October 18, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    Great post, excellent photography. Thanks for the information.

    Reply
  10. Djohan says

    November 6, 2014 at 5:22 am

    Hi,
    Why it has to be served immediately?
    What happens when we keep it until the next day or maybe longer?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      November 7, 2014 at 1:11 am

      The “caviar” continues to solidify and then become completely solid.

      Reply
      • Veronica says

        February 4, 2017 at 12:05 pm

        Is it still edible / interesting after completely solid? Like candies?

        Reply
        • Jennifer Che says

          February 7, 2017 at 9:26 pm

          It’s not bad completely solid, like a hard jello but not quite a gummy.

          Reply
  11. Ta Rena Furr says

    April 27, 2015 at 3:01 am

    Have you done the reverse spherification yet?

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      April 28, 2015 at 11:08 am

      No I have not! I heard it’s a lot trickier but stays in its form a lot longer. Someday!

      Reply
  12. Ari Sobel says

    March 8, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    Did you add anything to the McCallan to get it to keep its shape? (xanthan gum or something similar?) We tried with Grand Marnier and the exploded on impact.

    Reply
  13. Shinya Asami says

    June 2, 2017 at 6:11 pm

    This is so cool. I can’t wait to try it.

    Do you have any blogs related to specialty coffees?

    Reply
  14. Eugene Richter says

    April 10, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    I have seen the last comment dated 2018.
    Do you have the receipt for whiskey spherification?
    I want to know the proportion of whiskey dilution
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      January 6, 2021 at 12:30 am

      Sorry, I didn’t actually measure, so I can’t tell you the exact measurement I used. Maybe try it straight up?

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Stonyfield Yogurt Pearls says:
    March 19, 2015 at 10:13 am

    […] ions, and a polysaccharide (e.g., alginate). Although the ingredients sound like the ones that are used in spherification, David Edwards told me that their proprietary technique makes the skins much more stable and […]

    Reply
  2. Modernistic Cuisine: Sodium Alginate | Spice Specialist says:
    August 12, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    […] to create caviars; sperification and reverse sperification. Here is a good primer on both types of spherification (caviar) procesess’. We’ve also included some suggestions for incorporating Sodium Alginate into your culinary […]

    Reply
  3. Guess What: You Can Deep Fry Water | Gizmodo Australia says:
    May 27, 2016 at 6:31 am

    […] end in horrendous disfigurement. Instead we’d recommend using calcium alginate to make spherified cocktails. Seriously, we’re not responsible if you burn your house […]

    Reply
  4. Guess What: You Can Deep Fry Water – DailyITfix.com- Get Your Geek Fix says:
    May 27, 2016 at 6:56 am

    […] certainly end in horrendous disfigurement. Instead we’d recommend using calcium alginate to make spherified cocktails. Seriously, we’re not responsible if you burn your house […]

    Reply
  5. Chef Invents Deep Fried Water – Cloud Up2date says:
    June 27, 2016 at 11:23 pm

    […] third degree burns. According to Gizmodo, you would be better off to use calcium alginate to make spherified cocktails, which are still pretty darn […]

    Reply
  6. Bo Innovation Hong Kong - 3 Michelin Stars - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    March 11, 2018 at 11:43 am

    […] The X-treme “xiao long bao” is a signature dish. Made to look like dragon eyes, these spherified balls explode with an intense clear soup that tastes like a pork xiao long bao, or soup dumpling. […]

    Reply
  7. You can make what?! | Contemporary Issues in Food Science says:
    November 24, 2018 at 7:47 pm

    […] https://tinyurbankitchen.com/spherification-making-caviar/ […]

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  8. Molecular Gastronomy Singapore - Chemical Literature says:
    December 22, 2019 at 5:23 am

    […] Download Image More @ http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com […]

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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