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How to perform the culinary technique of spherification at home

By Sam Wong

16 March 2022

DJWYNK Molecular Cuisine mango jelly on white background

Zhanna Tretiakova/Alamy

IF YOU eat at fancy places, you may have encountered orbs of sauce or puree, held inside a membrane, that burst in your mouth. Making them involves a little chemistry, but it can be done at home.

Now a staple of modernist cuisine, the spherification technique was patented in 1942 by food scientist William Peschardt and later popularised by chef Ferran AdriĆ  at El Bulli restaurant in north-east Spain in the 2000s.

To try it, you need two special ingredients that can be ordered online. One is a salt called sodium alginate, which comes from brown algae. Alginate is formed…

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