Mad Science!

My molecular gastronomy kit came today, so of course I tried it out as soon as I had that box open. I made caviar! No, I did not use mad science to turn myself into a fish, so I guess it isn't real caviar... but it is tasty. I'm not going to break it down, since it's basic reverse spherification. If you want to try it all you have to do is Google it. Tons of sites explain the process. The Youtube videos are particularly helpful.

Here's what I came up with first

You know those Satsumas in my CSA box? Turns out they were blood oranges! So here is some blood orange caviar. They weren't exactly perfect but not bad for a first batch.. the feel in your mouth is so strange, just like caviar with a satisfying pop and a rush of tart juice.

And then these..  Espresso caviar on ice cream! I made them hot so you had a fun temperature difference between the caviar and ice cream as well. These ones turned out more uniform although not quite spherical, and tasted great on the ice cream. I'm sure they'll get better with practice. With reverse spherification they are pretty sturdy and temperature doesn't really affect them.. which has my brain spinning with all kinds of ideas. I think cantaloupe caviar will be next on the menu.

With regular spherification they have to be served immediately or they will gel all the way to the center. With reverse spherification if you rinse them in clean water they won't continue gelling, and then you need to suspend them in the same type of liquid you made them with (fruit juice and espresso in my case) so they won't leech out flavor and you can store them in the fridge for a while.