Drum Roll Please..... Challenge #2

Balsamic Vinegar Pearls DONE!

Here's my step by step. I actually failed 3 times before I succeeded.

I put the olive oil in the fridge for 3 hours at first. After 3 failures, I decided to follow another set of directions from another video and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. I forgot about it and left it in there for an hour. LOL

Remember the weird agar-agar? Read this post for more on agar-agar. I ended up using a coffee bean grinder and made them into about 4 oz. of agar flakes! I was so proud of myself :-)

 Now I heat 1 cup of balsamic vinegar at medium and whisk in 1 tbsp of agar flakes. I heat this mixture till it lightly boils. Then, I let it cool down till it is around room temperature.

 

 

As you can probably tell, these 3 pictures above are the failed attempts. This is what I figured out. As I put in more and more pearls, the temperature of the oil quickly ascends. And as the olive oil warms up, my agar pearls disintegrates! So the 4th and last attempt, I dropped the pearls slower and intermittently put the oil back in the freezer for a minute. And here it is!!!! Beautiful!!! When you put these pearls in your mouth, the agar  quickly melts on your tongue and gives you a potent dosage of balsamic vinegar. YUM!!!

Balsamic Pearls - Challenge #2

How did your sourdough starter come out? I was so glad to have made it. My family loved the bread and the pizza! So how about another challenge for October? I promise this challenge is shorter and less time consuming.

We are making Balsamic Vinegar Pearls! Watch this video! It's different than the first one I had found and posted but it actually gives us more details about it.

I went to an Asian market to find agar-agar. I had originally thought it was a type of sugar because in the video I saw, it was from a packet, like sweet n' low. LOL But agar is a red algae! It is a vegetarian thickening agent, compared to gelatin, which is from animal sources. Read on it here in this article.

Here are the varieties of agar-agar I saw. I was very surprised because 1. of their different colors and 2. they looked like bars of plastic!

Anyway, you know what I chose! I am a health nut! I got the one without the dye. In this challenge, I only need a tablespoon I think... so... I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I will find out!

I will be back to post what I did and how I did on this challenge!