GELLING AGENTS

Gelatin powder or leaf? Gold, silver or bronze? Agar-agar , gelatin or starch ? What are the proportions ? Should we favor one over the other? And first of all, what's the difference ?These are full of questions that we are all brought to ask when we start pastry. That's why I wanted to create this article.

GELATIN

WHAT'S THIS ?

gelatin nf -  Protein obtained by denaturation of skin and bone collagens following prolonged heating in an aqueous medium by autoclaving. [Larousse]

Gelatin is therefore obtained by the prolonged boiling of skins and / or bones of animals, mainly pigs or cattle . There is also another alternative today with fish gelatin . In all cases, gelatin is therefore a product of animal origin , which does not add taste or odor to your preparations.

It is either in sheets (usually 2g) or powder .

HOW TO USE GELATIN ?

• Gelatin must first be re-hydrated.

Gelatin sheet : Soak the gelatine leaves in a large bowl with water very cold and ice , for at least 20 minutes .

Powdered gelatin : gelatin hydrate in 5 times its weight in  water well cold for at least 20 minutes .

• Before incorporating your gelatin, drain the leaves well by pressing them , to add the minimum amount of water to your preparation.
• Gelatin dissolves at 40 ° C, so it is added to a hot mixture .
• However, gelatin does not support boiling and loses all its properties . That's why you always add it out of the fire .

WHAT EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT GELATIN  ?

The strength of a gelatin is measured in bloom. The stronger the index , the stronger the gelatin .  You can find gelatin ranging from 50 to 300 bloom . So no matter whether you use pork gelatin, beef, fish, powder or leaf, the important thing to know how to dose it is to know its index in bloom .

To help us (or not ..) industrialists have classified this gelatin in three: Gold / Silver / Bronze

• Gold gelatin : corresponds to 200/220 bloom
• Silver gelatin  : corresponds to 150/180 blooms
• Bronze gelatin  : corresponds to 120/140 blooms

This information is generally given only on professional products. The gelatins found in supermarkets are usually gold gelatins at 200 bloom .

According to the same principle, if the information is not given in a recipe, it must be considered that the gelatin used is 200 bloom gelatin.

HOW TO DOSE GELATIN?

There is no magic proportions that exist, it all depends on the preparation you want to add gelatin, and the texture you want to give.