You may come across this white powder (sometimes called kanten in recipes) and wonder what to do with it. It is 'vegetarian gelatine', produced from a seaweed from SE Asia (its name is the Malay word for jelly and the word repeated makes it plural) and has a few advantages over gelatine:
it is odourless, tasteless and colourless
it will set liquids quickly at room temperature and will stay set even in hot weather
it is from a plant rather than animal origin (gelatine is usually made from the bones, hooves and horns of cattle)
it may be used to help soothe digestive upsets and can give a feeling of fullness for people on low-kilojoule diets.
Use agar agar carefully as contact with cold will cause it to set instantly. Dissolve it (l tablespoon for every 4 cups of liquid) in hot water and stir well to dissolve or bring to the boil and simmer l minute. Mix into warm fruit or liquids and stir in well. Leave the mixture to set. This will occur as soon as the temperature reaches around 50C.
Diet Data
Negligible nutrients
Shopping Tips
Available in health-food or Asian shops as powder or threads.