Experimenting With Spheres

I decided to see if I could recreate and even just experiment with making some flavorful spheres using molecular gastronomy. I used one of the recipes by Andi Phillips for Green Onion, Ginger, Sake Caviar as a base to make my rendition of Green Onion, Ginger, Jalapeno Caviar.

My substitutions were water instead of sake because all I had was some very good sake and I didn't want to waste it in case this didn't come out like I hoped. I also added a whole sliced jalapeno and some fresh cilantro leaves to the veggies. The salt was also adjusted at the end for a total of 1 tsp.

I successfully created some spheres with a bit of heat and some flavor. I made some caviar size and others an olive size. The sake probably would have added a another layer of taste missing in my adaptation. I didn't have a fancy way to serve them so my hubby and I just added the 'caviar' to our salads. It made for great conversation and didn't take anything away from the salad.

I will be making more spheres in the future. It was fun.

Green Onion, Ginger, Sake “Caviar”

1 T calcium chloride
5 cups water

6 ounces green onion, green part only
2 ounces peeled ginger, thinly sliced
(added 1 jalapeno thinly sliced)
(added a few sprigs of cilantro)
2 1/2 cups sake (substituted 2 1/2 cups water)
1 ½ t sodium alginate
½ t salt (added additional 1/2 tsp salt)

In a medium bowl, dissolve the calcium chloride in the 5 cups of water. Set aside for later use.

In a 2 qt saucepan combine ginger, onions, & sake. Bring to a rolling boil. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Run mixture through the food processor until the vegetables are liquefied. This may need to be done in 2 batches if using a home style food processor. Strain solid matter out of liquid and discard. Measure 3 ¼ cups of the liquid and return it to the 2 quart saucepan. Bring it back up to a simmer. Dump in the sodium alginate all at once. Turn heat to low and whisk vigorously over low heat for one minute. Run the mixture through a sieve. Stir in salt. Transfer mixture to a squeeze bottle. Drop about 200 pearl sized drops into the calcium chloride bath at a time. Allow the pearls to sit in the bath for 1 minute. In order to strain pearls while retaining bath solution for further use, have another medium bowl at hand. Pour bath & pearls into a strainer positioned over the 2nd bowl. Rinse the pearls under cold running water. Transfer pearls to a sieve positioned over a 3rd bowl to drain for later use. Repeat jelling process until all of the alginate mixture is used. Discard bath water when jelling process is complete.