Ingredients and solutions business Gelita has expanded its gelling agent portfolio by presenting what it believes is a world-first in creating agar-agar sheets. As the company explained, conventionally, plant-based agar-agar has only been available in powder form often as a mixture with other gelling agents, which has now been addressed.
Now, using a new manufacturing process, Gelita has succeeded in producing pure agar-agar as a standardised sheet, which the company said offered a number of advantages for food applications including confectionery and bakery.
This format offers numerous advantages in culinary applications. Agar-agar sheets eliminate the ambiguity of spoon measurements and complicated conversions of different powder solutions. Each sheet has an exactly defined and identical gelling strength, simplifying its use in recipes, including for vegans and vegetarians.
As agar-agar is plant based, it’s ideal for creating the most tempting vegan or vegetarian dishes where gelling is required. Dr. Franz-Josef Konert, CEO of Gelita says: “Our core business remains classic gelatine, but we are keen to meet regional requirements and consumer preferences and offer optimal solutions.”
According to Gelita, there has already been an early positive response to its new product, particularly owing to reportedly high levels of consumer dissatisfaction with the agar-based powder products currently on the market.
