SandwichShortOfAPicnic
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Tomato and Basil Pearls. It’s a non entry but I’m very much with you all!
This post was moved to the recipe section but it’s not written up as a recipe it’s just some pics and a rough guide of what I did. There’s a decent amount of info you can look up on the internet if you would like to make them
Main Ingredients (minus the agar agar). Cooked up and strained through a muslin
The liquid was then heated with some agar agar (1g per 100mls is a rough guideline) until it’s thoroughly dissolved and hot.
Then simply load up a pipette or syringe or very small nozzle squeeze bottle and drops little drops of it into a tall(ish) container of icy cold oil. I used a measuring jug for the oil but a stick blender container would be good. Don’t leave your oil in a freezer bag too long though.. ahem..oops
By the time the droplets have fallen through the oil to the bottom they will a formed beautiful little pearls and if you’ve got the intensity right (a bit on that below) then they burst with tomato flavour. Store in some of the clear liquid you made them with to maintain good colour.
Tips
- Get everything ready before you start so you are ready to start dropping those pearls straight away while it’s hottish.
- You need to use precision scales for the agar agar that are capable of measuring very small amounts accurately. They’re pretty cheap to pick up from dreaded amazon
- Don’t leave your oil in the freezer overnight, it will freeze solid in-spite of what that crazy YouTuber said
- Make sure you go for a strong flavour. I adjusted mine twice adding more lemon, more salt and a pinch of sugar. You’re looking for it to taste almost screw your face up strong because they’re so tiny a mild flavour will be completely lost.
Use your pipette (or whatever you’re using) and taste just one drops worth to see if you get that flavour hit. Remember it’s not as intense cold as it is hot.
- Rinsing the oil off is easiest done by filling a big bowl with running water and letting the oil run off the top.
- You can re-use the oil you made them with by just straining it.
- The paste left in the muslin after straining is tasty and would be good used in a tomato based dish.
Edited for various grammatical errors and typos. I’m certain there are more but I can’t read it again
This post was moved to the recipe section but it’s not written up as a recipe it’s just some pics and a rough guide of what I did. There’s a decent amount of info you can look up on the internet if you would like to make them
Main Ingredients (minus the agar agar). Cooked up and strained through a muslin
The liquid was then heated with some agar agar (1g per 100mls is a rough guideline) until it’s thoroughly dissolved and hot.
Then simply load up a pipette or syringe or very small nozzle squeeze bottle and drops little drops of it into a tall(ish) container of icy cold oil. I used a measuring jug for the oil but a stick blender container would be good. Don’t leave your oil in a freezer bag too long though.. ahem..oops
By the time the droplets have fallen through the oil to the bottom they will a formed beautiful little pearls and if you’ve got the intensity right (a bit on that below) then they burst with tomato flavour. Store in some of the clear liquid you made them with to maintain good colour.
Tips
- Get everything ready before you start so you are ready to start dropping those pearls straight away while it’s hottish.
- You need to use precision scales for the agar agar that are capable of measuring very small amounts accurately. They’re pretty cheap to pick up from dreaded amazon
- Don’t leave your oil in the freezer overnight, it will freeze solid in-spite of what that crazy YouTuber said
- Make sure you go for a strong flavour. I adjusted mine twice adding more lemon, more salt and a pinch of sugar. You’re looking for it to taste almost screw your face up strong because they’re so tiny a mild flavour will be completely lost.
Use your pipette (or whatever you’re using) and taste just one drops worth to see if you get that flavour hit. Remember it’s not as intense cold as it is hot.
- Rinsing the oil off is easiest done by filling a big bowl with running water and letting the oil run off the top.
- You can re-use the oil you made them with by just straining it.
- The paste left in the muslin after straining is tasty and would be good used in a tomato based dish.
Edited for various grammatical errors and typos. I’m certain there are more but I can’t read it again
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