FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide for Agar Home Page

Crystals of dried agar Agar, dried into crystals ready for use.
Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Agar along with all the trcipes employing Agar presented on this site, with 43 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Agar recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Agar as a major wild food ingredient.

A vegetarian alternative to gelatine, agar (also known as agar-agar) is the jelly that results from boiling several kinds of red algae to extract the polysaccharide (complex sugar) that supports their cell wall structure. (It is also known as kanten or Japanese gelatine.) It's dried and sold in powder form, flakes or bars and is also used as a stabiliser or thickener in many food products. It's available from the larger branches of most supermarkets as well as Asian grocers (it's frequently used in Asian cuisines). Useful if you want to make a jelly using pineapple, kiwi fruit or papaya, because these fruits break down the protein found in gelatine, preventing the jelly from setting.

Agar consists of a mixture of agarose and agaropectin. Agarose, the predominant component of agar, is a linear polymer, made up of the repeating monomeric unit of agarobiose. Agarobiose is a disaccharide made up of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactopyranose. Agaropectin is a heterogeneous mixture of smaller molecules that occur in lesser amounts. Agar is useful in culinary terms, because it melts at 85°C and re-solidifies between 32 and 40°C. Thus it dissolves in hot food but begins to crystallize out and thus solidifies the food as it cools. This is why agar-agar is used as a gelling agent.

The word 'agar' is derived from agar-agar, the Malay name for red algae (Gigartina, Gracilaria) from which the jelly is produced. It is also known as: kanten, China grass,Japanese isinglass, Ceylon moss or Jaffna moss. Gracilaria lichenoides is specifically referred to as agal-agal or Ceylon agar.

It is found in high concentrations in Irish Moss (carragheen) which is why this seaweed is often boiled with fish and milk to make puddings and terrines that set naturally.




The alphabetical list of all Agar recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 43 recipes in total:

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Almond Jelly in Ginger Sauce
     Origin: China
Mushroom Pâté
     Origin: Britain
To Dry Mushrooms
     Origin: Britain
Beef in Bitter
     Origin: Britain
Mushroom Pudding
     Origin: Britain
Torta di patate e Funghi selvatici
(Wild Mushroom and Potato Cake)
     Origin: Italy
Blodsoppsvampsoppa
(Scarletina Bolete Mushroom Soup)
     Origin: Sweden
Mushroom-stuffed Chicken with Gravy
     Origin: Britain
Venison, Field Mushroom and Ale
Pudding

     Origin: Scotland
Brine-pickled Mushrooms with Herbs
     Origin: Britain
Mushrooms à la Greque
     Origin: France
Venison, Potato and Mushroom Stew
     Origin: Britain
Chinese Pork and Mushroom Meatballs
Soup

     Origin: Fusion
Nata de Coco
(Coconut Water Gel)
     Origin: Philippines
Wild Garlic and Mushroom Lasagne
     Origin: Britain
Cornish Fisherman's Stew
     Origin: England
Pickled Bolete Mushrooms
     Origin: American
Wild Mushroom and Chicken Pie
     Origin: Britain
Dried Mushrooms
     Origin: Britain
Pickled Mushrooms
     Origin: Britain
Wild Mushroom and Shallot Duxelles
     Origin: Britain
Duxelle
     Origin: France
Pineapple Pudding
     Origin: India
Wild Mushroom Compote
     Origin: Britain
Fried Charcoal Burner Mushrooms
     Origin: Britain
Quarktorte mit Agar-agar
(No-bake Quark Cheesecake with
Agar-agar)
     Origin: Switzerland
Wild Mushroom Omelette
     Origin: Britain
Fried Morels
     Origin: Britain
Scalloped Morel Mushrooms
     Origin: American
Wild Mushroom Pizza
     Origin: Britain
Kotleciki Owsiane
(Savoury Rolled Oat Croquettes)
     Origin: Poland
Sienimunaskas-kääryle
(Wild Mushroom Omelette Roll)
     Origin: Finland
Wild Mushroom Soup
     Origin: Britain
Madarch a Chaws Pob
(Mushroom Rarebit)
     Origin: Welsh
Stuffed Shaggy Parasols
     Origin: America
Wild Mushroom Stew
     Origin: Britain
Mango Falooda
     Origin: Pakistan
Tanghulu
(Candied Fruit Skewers)
     Origin: China
Wild Mushroom Stuffed Potato Cakes
     Origin: Britain
Mazze de Tamburo
(Fried Shaggy Parasols)
     Origin: Italy
Tapas de Hongos y Patatas
     Origin: Britain
Mushroom Ketchup
     Origin: Britain
Tattie Scone with Bacon and Field
Mushrooms

     Origin: Scotland

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