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COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY |
AGAR AGAR, JAPANESE ISINGLASS,GRACILARIA LICHENOIDES Algae, AGAR, AGAR-AGAR, , GELIDIUM AMANSII,KYAUK KYAW, DAI CHOY GOH, ABON, KANTEN, GULAMAN, CHUN CHOW, CEYLONG MOSS, CHINESE GELATIN, GRASS JELLY, HEAVENLY GRASS, JAPANESE GELATIN, SEAWEED GELATIN, SEAWEED JELLY
Agar is a polysaccharide found in the
cell walls of some red algae and is unusual in containing sulfated galactose
monomers. It requires nothing but extraction and purification to become
agar, but is sometimes chemically modified into agarose for special applications. Agar: gracilaria or gelidium, is the queen of gelling agents.
Laminaria has various oddball polysaccharides like laminarin (a storage
polysaccharide) and alginic acid (from cell walls). They are chemically
different from agar and, to my knowledge, not widely used.
Gracalaria seaweed or Gelidium gracilaria red algae originates from the Mediterranean and Far East. Also There are three varieties of seaweeds.
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| Key Characteristics | Description |
| Solubility in Cold Water | |
| Others | high gel strength after cooking at 1% concentration
low viscosity emulsifier |
| pH | ~7.0 |
| Temperature | Agar will form gels at approximately ~35C but does not melt, once formed below 85C.< |
| Uses | icings
glazes
stabilizer: pie fillings, piping gels, meringues, cookies, icing or glaze, confectionery, canned meat and fish |
Composition: D-galactose, 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose
anionic seaweed is linear polygalactose sulfuric acid ester
linear polymer of sulfated D-glucuronic acid and agarose (a neutral polymer of agarobiose)
agarose-beta-D-gal;3 anhydro-alpha-L-gal
D-glcA=D-glucuronic acid
D-galA=D-galacturonic acid
L-gulA=L-guluronic acid
Agarose is the gelling component.
Agar is a polysaccharide found in the cell walls of some red algae and is unusual in containing sulfated galactose monomers. It requires nothing but extraction and purification to become agar. It is sometimes chemically modified into agarose for special applications.
Agar added to media simply gels them into a convenient solid form. In tropical countries it is sometimes used as a gelatin substitute for "jello-like" desserts. This webber was surprised with this substitute when in Indonesia several years ago. However, it emphasized the adage that facts and theory have real life application.
a hydrocolloid made from marine algae. This is frequently used as a bacterial culture medium. A gel with salt added can be used to imitate various dielectric properties of foods.
Adapted from: Dahl, J.O. 1945. Food and Menu Dictionary. The DAHLS, Haviland Road, Stamford, Conn.
is sea moss, gelatin like product which has jellifying power.
Igoe, Robert S. 1983. Dictionary of Food Ingredients. Van Nostrand and Reinhold Company.
is a gum obtained from red seaweeds of the genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma, class Rhodophyceae. It is insoluble in cold water, slowly soluble in hot water, and soluble in boiling water forming a gel upon cooling. The gels are characterized as being tough and brittle, setting at 32 to 40 C and melting at 95C. Agar mainly functions in gel formation because of its range between melting and setting temperatures, being used in piping gels, glazes, icings, dental impression material, and microbiological plating. Typical use levels are 0.1 to 2.0%.
Barer-Stein, Thelma. 1999. You EatWhat You Are. A FireFly Book, [GT 2850 .B371 1999]
is a type of gelatin processed from seaweed that is commonly used to gel desserts. Because it is of vegetable origin, it is acceptable to all religions. [Indonesian, Malay, and Singaporean p. 223]
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of the coast of Ceylon and the opposing portion of the Malayan Archipelago. This seaweed is highly valued for food in Ceylon and other islands of the East. It abounds in Burma and is of superior quality on the Tenasserim Coast.
Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
A stabilizer and thickener, it is transparent, odorless, and tasteless, and obtained form various seaweeds found in the Pacific and Indian oceans and the sea of Japan. Agar was the first seaweed to be extracted, purified, and dried. Discovered by a Japanese innkeeper around 1658 and introduced in Europe and the United States by visitors from China in the 1800s as a substitute for gelatin. It goes into beverages, ice cream, ices, frozen custard, sherbert, meringue, baked goods, jelly, frozen candied sweet potatoes, icings, confections, artifically sweetened jellies and preserves, and serves as a substitute for gelatin and is used for thickening milk and cream. It is also a bulk laxative, and aside from causing an occasional allergic reaction, is nontoxic. GRAS ACCEPTABLE.
Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.
Dried, purified stems of a seaweed, Gelidium algae, Gracilaria and other genera. Partly soluble, and swells with water to form a gel. It has a wide temperature range between gelling and melting points. Used in soups, jellies, ice-cream, meat and fish pastes, in bacteriological media, for sizing silk, as adhesive and as a stabilizer for emulsions. Also called agar-agar, macassar gum and vegetable gelatine. Agar is a galactan, i.e. a complex of galactose units, but it is not digested by man.
AGAR AGAR, GELIDIUM AMANSII,KYAUK KYAW, DAI CHOY GOH, ABON, KANTEN, GULAMAN, CHUN CHOW, CEYLONG MOSS, CHINESE GELATIN, GRASS JELLY, HEAVENLY GRASS, JAPANESE GELATIN, SEAWEED GELATIN, SEAWEED JELLY
Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.
A gelatin obtained from seaweed. Many types of red algae are now used to make agar agar particularly Eucheuma sp. And Gelidium sp. Agar-agar has been used in China since AD300. The method of extraction of the gelatinous properties of seaweed is thought to have been discovered only in the seventeenth century after a cook threw the remains of a seaweed jelly dish onto a snow-covered bush and later discovered that the water had run off leaving the jelly attached in strands. The cook was able to boil up the strands and use them again. The method of freezing and thawing to purify the gelatin is still used today in some commercial agar agar processing factories. Agar agar comes in powdered, strand and sheet forms and, unlike gelatin, is boiled for use. The many types of jellied sweets served in Thailand and the Philippines owe their firmness to agar agar, which is suited to hot, tropical climates. Once it sets, it does not melt, lose shape or stick to the molds. Agar agar has a melting point of 185F (85C) and gels at 110F (43C). Powdered agar agar is brought to a boil in water, and then simmered briefly, the filaments or sheets should be soaked to soften before boiling. Also known as kyauk kyaw (Burma); dai choy goh (China); abon (Indonesia); kanten (Japan); gulaman (Philippines); chun chow (Sri Lanka)
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