When making desserts such as mousse, frozen cheesecake, pudding, etc., gylcine is often used, and its main function is to make the dessert solidify. For some other desserts, another coagulant, agar, is used. What is the difference between Girardin and Agar? Can they replace each other?

Gelatin

Gelatine, also known as fish glue or gelatin, is a phonetic translation of the English word Gelatine. It is a kind of gelatine extracted from the bones of animals, therefore, Gelatine is not considered a vegetarian food. It is divided into two kinds of flakes and powder, the usage is similar, both need to be soaked in cold water for a few moments (can not use hot water), after soaking, and then heated until melted, according to the steps of the recipe can be added to other ingredients.

Precautions for using jelliedin:

1、When heating the gillydine until melting, it should not be overheated, otherwise it will affect the gillydine’s solidifying ability.

2, unrefined gillydine will have a fishy odor, but now the market gillydine is generally refined, no odor, just soak and soften to use.

3、Gelatin powder and gelatin tablets can be used in place of each other, the dosage is the same (such as 5 grams of gelatin tablets coagulation with 5 grams of gelatin powder the same).

4, when soaking soft Gilead powder, usually with 3 to 4 times the weight of the water can be soaked. Because the custard powder is not like custard tablets can be wrung out excess water after soaking, so the water needs to be added to the right amount at a time.

5, the production of papaya mousse and other desserts containing fruit, the fruit should be cooked first. Because some of the enzymes in the fruit will break down the protein (the main ingredient of gilette is protein), so that the gilette can not be solidified, this kind of fruit including kiwi, papaya and so on.

6、After soaking the gillydine, for some reasons you cannot use it immediately, please put it into the refrigerator and take it out when you use it.

Agar

Agar, agar in English, is a coagulant made from seaweed, therefore, agar is a vegetarian food. Agar is harder to dissolve than gillette and needs to be added to boiling water and simmered for a few minutes in order to melt completely in the water, and once the temperature falls below 40°C, it solidifies immediately. Agar also needs to be soaked before use and will swell to four times its size when fully soaked. Agar has a harder texture than giardiniera, and is often used to make pastries such as shepherd’s pie and gazpacho.

The difference between the two

1. Different solidification points. Agar will solidify at 40℃ or below, while Girardin must be refrigerated to solidify. Girardin is mostly used in mousse, pudding and other desserts, mixing temperature is lower, if you use agar, it has not been mixed well (especially when mixed with whipped cream and so on) will be solidified into a block, can not be mixed evenly.

2, the texture is different. The texture of giletto is softer and more flexible than agar, and if agar is used in desserts such as mousse, the tenderness of the texture is completely lost.

3, the product storage conditions are different. Desserts made with agar, even in the summer can be placed directly at room temperature (such as goat’s soup is usually directly packaged and placed on the counter), while the desserts made with Gilead, you need to keep refrigerated to prevent melting.