Description
Gellan is a recent gelling agent developed in the 1970s. It is the product of a bacterium growing naturally on the aquatic plant Elodea obtained like yeast by culture in fermenter.
Gellan gum is used in small quantities, generally 2 g for 300 to 800 ml of final preparation, depending on the texture of the desired jelly. The higher its concentration, the firmer your jelly will be.
The gellan must be mixed and heated in order to gel.
- disperse the gellan in a fine rain in your liquid preparation
- mix the whole with a hand blender or a blender to remove the lumps
- bring to the boil and let it heat for 10 minutes while stirring
- let the preparation rest until it quickly turns to jelly
It can be used to replace animal gelatin and to make hot jellies that do not melt at high temperatures: to make a successful terrine, vegetable lasagna, leek puffs, etc. It is enough to use it at a rate of 2 g for 800 ml of final preparation to be cooked.
- The preparation to be gelled must be fairly liquid and always contain a little "available" water, i.e. no emulsion, pure syrup or pure alcohol.
- A gellan-based gelatin preparation can easily be cut with a knife to form lasagna, palets, French fries, cakes... with various flavors. To do this, quickly pour the heated preparation into a flat container with edges according to the desired thickness. Once the jelly has set, cut out the desired shapes and handle them carefully.
- Thanks to its resistance to temperatures of up to 90 °C, it is ideal for the production of hot gelatins.
- The gelling power can be reduced in highly saline solutions.
