Avocado Gel

Avocado gelled using GPI carrageenan.




Well, it resembles a flan more than a gel. Quite an interesting texture! Its still solid to the touch, though delicate. When you start eating it, it shows no resistance in its form and just instantly becomes soft. Think mash potatoes. Also, its not too delicate that you cant even touch it without ruining the shape. As long as its not straining the gel too much its quite easy to handle




So, what to do with it? The thing is quite versatile in where it can be served in the course of dinner. It can be an amuse bouche, part of an appetizer, or a pre-dessert. I mean, the avocado is really just a vessel and you can pair its flavour in any way you want. Add cream and maple syrup, its dessert. You can top it with roasted garlic, some cilantro, and served on a tortilla chip, you got yourself some chips and guacamole.

So after a little bit of tinkering, and scavenging for whatever ingredients I could find to garnish it (its a lab, so the list of ingredients is quite limited), I decided to just simply brulee some sugar on top. There you go, avocado flan brulee!





An Accidental Event

Heres an interesting bit I accidentally discovered. Avocado turns to that unappetizing brown colour after you leave it out, right? It oxidizes and turns brown. Well, I sorta neglected to go straight to cleaning the pieces of avocado and instead went straight to my computer. When I went back to clean the table, I realized that the avocados have not changed colour at all! Heres a photo of it taken around 45 minutes after the initial photos.


Hmmm, maybe carrageenan has some anti-oxidant properties? Or maybe it coats the avocado pulps and acts as a barrier to prevent oxygen from contacting it. Definitely beyond my field of understanding for now. Still an interesting occurrance nonetheless.