Spherification is a culinary process that employs

sodium alginate Alginic acid, also called algin, is a naturally occurring, edible polysaccharide found in brown algae. It is hydrophilic and forms a viscous gum when hydrated. With metals such as sodium and calcium, its salts are known as alginates. Its colou ...

and either

calcium chloride Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound, a salt with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline solid at room temperature, and it is highly soluble in water. It can be created by neutralising hydrochloric acid with calcium hydroxide. Ca ...

or calcium glucate lactate to shape a liquid into squishy spheres, which visually and texturally resemble

roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...

. The technique was documented by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

in the 1950sPotter, Jeff (2010). ''Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food'', page 305. O'Reilly Media, Inc. . and brought to the modernist cuisine by the creative team at

El Bulli El Bulli () was a restaurant near the town of Roses, Catalonia, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià and driven by the culinary ideas of Albert Adrià. The restaurant overlooked Cala Montjoi, a bay on Catalonia's Costa Brava. It held three Michelin st ...

under the direction of chefs

Ferran Adrià Ferran Adrià i Acosta (; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the ''El Bulli'' restaurant in Roses, Girona, Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world. He has often collaborated with h ...

and Albert Adrià.

Preparation

There are two main methods for creating such spheres, which differ based on the calcium content of the liquid product to be spherified.

Basic spherification

For flavored liquids (such as fruit juices) containing no calcium, the liquid is thoroughly mixed with a small quantity of powdered

, then dripped into a bowl filled with a cold solution of

, or other soluble calcium salt. Just as a teaspoonful of water dropped into a bowl of vegetable oil forms a little bubble of water in the oil, each drop of the alginated liquid tends to form into a small sphere in the calcium solution. Then, during a reaction time of a few seconds to a few minutes, the calcium solution causes the outer layer of each alginated liquid sphere to form a thin, flexible skin. The resulting " popping boba" or artificial "caviar" balls are rinsed then in water and saved for later use in food or beverages.

Reverse spherification

Reverse spherification, for use with substances that contain calcium (e.g.

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

) or have high acid/alcohol content, requires dripping the substance (containing

calcium lactate Calcium lactate is a white crystalline salt with formula , consisting of two lactate anions (CHOH) for each calcium cation . It forms several hydrates, the most common being the pentahydrate ·5. Calcium lactate is used in medicine, mainly to ...

or calcium lactate gluconate) into a bath of alginate and distilled water. A more recent technique is frozen reverse spherification, which involves pre-freezing spheres containing calcium lactate gluconate and then submerging them in the sodium alginate bath. Basic and reverse spherification methods give much the same result: a sphere of liquid held by a thin gel membrane, texturally similar to roe. However, with the basic method the membrane will continue to thicken until eventually the whole ball is jelly, and so should be used immediately. The reverse spherification method gives far more stable results and can be stored for many hours.

References

*Young, Chris (2013)
"The Science of Spherification"
ChefSteps.com Cooking techniques Molecular gastronomy Culinary terminology {{cooking-stub

Preparation

Basic spherification

Reverse spherification

See also

References