Statement of principle
The other day, I finally got around to playing with the sodium alginate and calcium chloride my Dad ordered from the US. I made jasmine tea ravioli and caviar. It was a really cool experience, though it took a bit of practice to get the shape right and to figure out how long it needed to set so it wasn't too fragile and wasn't too gummy.
I also played a bit with the tapioca maltodextrin I picked up in New York, making a bit of peanut butter powder. It worked pretty well, but more experiments are in order; I think, for one thing, that natural peanut butter might work better.
All this playing with chemicals got me thinking, though: Why is it OK for me to use them, when I object to so much processed food? The only answer I've come up with so far is that I object to the presence of food chemicals when they're a shortcut or a crutch, when they're used to produce results that could be produced without them, if appropriate time and care were taken, or when they're used to ensure consistency in the face of inconsistent product. It's the same approach I take to the addition of sugar to tomato sauce: If you have to add sugar to your tomato sauce, then you're using the wrong tomatoes!
On the other hand, if you're using these chemicals in completely novel applications, to do things that would otherwise be impossible, to present flavours and textures in a new light, then that's OK. You're doing what food should be all about.
Still, having a better sense of what these chemicals are and what they do has made me much less afraid when I find them in processed food that I do buy.
I also played a bit with the tapioca maltodextrin I picked up in New York, making a bit of peanut butter powder. It worked pretty well, but more experiments are in order; I think, for one thing, that natural peanut butter might work better.
All this playing with chemicals got me thinking, though: Why is it OK for me to use them, when I object to so much processed food? The only answer I've come up with so far is that I object to the presence of food chemicals when they're a shortcut or a crutch, when they're used to produce results that could be produced without them, if appropriate time and care were taken, or when they're used to ensure consistency in the face of inconsistent product. It's the same approach I take to the addition of sugar to tomato sauce: If you have to add sugar to your tomato sauce, then you're using the wrong tomatoes!
On the other hand, if you're using these chemicals in completely novel applications, to do things that would otherwise be impossible, to present flavours and textures in a new light, then that's OK. You're doing what food should be all about.
Still, having a better sense of what these chemicals are and what they do has made me much less afraid when I find them in processed food that I do buy.