Espuma: maybe not versawhip but xanthan gum?

I questioned in a post before, if versawhip is the answer, for most espumas without egg-white.
Egg white is the perfect ingredient, resulting a stable but still pliable foam, it is accessible to all of us… the only problem is the often cited "wet dog smell" which always happens, when egg white is oxidising.

Well I read a bit about versawhip [before I spend a lot of money in getting it by mail order here to the ME. Apparently a lot of people complaining about a sharp metallic aroma.

So it is also not great for delicate foams for cocktails.

Today it stroke me - I looked for a foam recipe and seen xanthan gum. Well, this ingredient I am already using, as thickener and stabilizer. However it is strange: I never had the idea to use it without anything else.

So I opted to use it in a mixture of cranberry concentrate, fresh apple juice and sugar - in a concentration of 2%. The foam was very good; pliable, perfectly stable and floating. It is a bit less airy [but I used only one cream charger] - but it is really great.
I did the same with some elderflower-apple squash, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, a bit lemon juice - however with a concentration of 3%. While the "unsprayed" mixture was quite rubbery, the foam out of the espuma maker was again perfect. Again I used only one cream charger [N2O] - as I didn't wanted to waste the expensive chargers and I only need the foam on Sunday.

So… success. The best is the taste - xanthan gum has only very little taste, but it is not bitter, metallic or chemical at all. You won't even notice it.

The drinks for Sunday will be: an Hendricks & Cucumber Soda with Elderflower Espuma and an Avantgarde Cosmopolitan. Along with some more avantgarde mixology - will post the pictures on Sunday or Monday...

Comments

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