carbohydrates with some unusual and useful properties Food manufacturers use them to make gels and to stabilize emulsions (cream and ice cream, for example) Agar Agar, a shortened version of the Malay agar agar, is a mixture of several different carbohydrates and other materials that has long been extracted from several genera of red algae (p 341) It’s now manufactured by boiling the seaweeds, filtering the liquid, and freeze-drying it in the form of sticks or strands, which are readily available in Asian groceries The solid pieces of agar can be eaten uncooked as a chewy ingredient in cold salads, soaked and cut into bite-sized pieces In China agar is made into an unflavored gel that’s sliced and served in a complex sauce; it’s also used to gel flavorful mixtures of fruit juice and sugar, and stews of meats, fish, or vegetables In Japan agar is made into jellied sweets Agar forms gels at even lower concentrations than gelatin does, less than 1% by weight An agar jelly is somewhat opaque, and has a more crumbly texture than a gelatin jelly To make an agar jelly, the dried agar is soaked in cold water, then heated to the boil to fully dissolve the carbohydrate chains, mixed with the other ingredients, and the mixture strained and cooled until it sets, at around 110ºF/38ºC But where a gelatin gel sets and remelts at around the same temperature, an agar gel only melts again when its temperature reaches 185ºF/85ºC So an agar gel won’t melt in the mouth; it must be chewed into particles On the other hand, it will remain solid on hot days, and can even be served hot Modern cooks have used this property to disperse small agar-gelled morsels of contrasting flavor into a hot dish Gelatinous Delicacies: Tendons, Fins, and Nests ... To make an agar jelly, the dried agar is soaked in cold water, then heated to the boil to fully dissolve the carbohydrate chains, mixed with the other ingredients, and the mixture strained and cooled until it sets, at around... But where a gelatin gel sets and remelts at around the same temperature, an agar gel only melts again when its temperature reaches 185ºF/85ºC So an agar gel won’t melt in the mouth; it must be chewed into particles On the other hand, it... chewed into particles On the other hand, it will remain solid on hot days, and can even be served hot Modern cooks have used this property to disperse small agar-gelled morsels of contrasting flavor into a hot dish