Everything You Should Know About Agar-Agar—& How to Cook With It

Gelatin is not vegetarian. This is not a surprise to you. The good news is that there is a vegan substitute for gelatin called agar-agar, which is a product derived from algae. Agar-agar looks and acts similar to gelatin, but it's made without any animal products at all, making it just right for any home cook or baker. What might be a surprise—especially if you're not vegetarian, vegan, or avoiding pork for any reason—is just how many things include gelatin as an ingredient. Marshmallows, many chewy candies, panna cotta. Jell-O. All of them owe their texture to gelatin, in all its swingy, bouncy, jiggly, chewy glory. I've been crossing my fingers, as a vegetarian, for a gelatin substitute that would replicate that texture perfectly. But alas, even the staunchest of vegans would admit that nothing can match gelatin's elastic, jolly properties. However, there is one product that may come close—the algae-derived agar-agar, aka agar. Ahead, find out exactly what agar is and how to use it in place of gelatin.

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What Is Agar?

Agar, which you can buy in health food or Asian specialty food stores (usually in either powder or flake form), is a thickening and gelling agent, and most use it to make a firm, Jell-O-like food. You use it the same way you would gelatin, too: Dissolve and hydrate the agar in warm liquid and let set. Agar is one of those ingredients—like wheatgrass, hummus, and sprouted bread—that sounded like the punchline in a health-conscious parent's kid's lunch box, until it became cool: Although agar-agar has been used for centuries in Asian cooking (it was discovered in Japan in the 17th century), it has been seeing popularity elsewhere, especially in vegan cooking (see: the raindrop cake's debut at Brooklyn food festival Smorgasburg, where it goes for a cool $8 a pop). You may also recognize agar-agar from your chem lab days: The stuff folks cook with is the same stuff that's poured into Petri dishes for culturing bacteria.

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* This article was originally published here