I don't know anything about laboratory uses of agar, but I do use it in cooking. Something that baffles me is that so many recipes (at least in northern Europe) use gelatin when agar works just as well or better. Agar is cheaper, easier to handle, comes in more compact packaging, lasts longer, sets faster, is reversible, fits more food preferences, etc. Why this obsession with gelatin? What am I missing?
The article contains one possible clue: gelatin melts at body temperature. This implies dishes made with gelatin melt in the mouth like chocolate does, but I can't recall experiencing that (at least not to the extent of chocolate) when eating gelatin-based stuff. (And many gels, at least in my opinion, have a better mouthfeel when more solid than liquid.)
> Why this obsession with gelatin? What am I missing?
Probably just tradition. It's pretty easy to "accidentally" make gelatin when making a broth, and intentionally making it only requires heat and bones, which are essentially pure waste. Whereas agar is a product that you have to buy in a store, and wasn't even available in the West until somewhat recently.
Of course, everybody just buys gelatin in the stores these days, and agar is almost as easy to find, but old recipes tend to be handed down for generations.
I don't know anything about laboratory uses of agar, but I do use it in cooking. Something that baffles me is that so many recipes (at least in northern Europe) use gelatin when agar works just as well or better. Agar is cheaper, easier to handle, comes in more compact packaging, lasts longer, sets faster, is reversible, fits more food preferences, etc. Why this obsession with gelatin? What am I missing?
The article contains one possible clue: gelatin melts at body temperature. This implies dishes made with gelatin melt in the mouth like chocolate does, but I can't recall experiencing that (at least not to the extent of chocolate) when eating gelatin-based stuff. (And many gels, at least in my opinion, have a better mouthfeel when more solid than liquid.)
> Why this obsession with gelatin? What am I missing?
Probably just tradition. It's pretty easy to "accidentally" make gelatin when making a broth, and intentionally making it only requires heat and bones, which are essentially pure waste. Whereas agar is a product that you have to buy in a store, and wasn't even available in the West until somewhat recently.
Of course, everybody just buys gelatin in the stores these days, and agar is almost as easy to find, but old recipes tend to be handed down for generations.
> thrives only in cold, turbulent waters over rocky seabeds, conditions nearly impossible to replicate in aquaculture
With our warming climate, I wonder if research is happening to develop heat-resistant agar, similar to coffee, cocoa, and rice.