It was only a matter of time before the inevitable convergence of food waste-user-uppers and resourceful vegans. Now it's happened, and we’re all talking about aquafaba, that slick liquid left over after you strain a can of chickpeas for your hummus or salad or what-have-you. Yesterday, Jane Black published a story on the stuff in the newspaper of record, calling it a “miracle,” albeit a somewhat mysterious one.
Discovered by ingenious home cooks and recently commandeered by chefs, the stuff is a better egg replacer than vegans have ever found—and it uses up something that’s normally cast off as waste.
At Food52, we’ve experimented with aquafaba before; Caroline had great success in turning it into mayonnaise, and slightly less success with a chocolate mousse.
But now that the word’s in our head again, we’re dreaming up everything we can do with it—starting with these recipes from around the ‘net:
- Kenji’s fluffy aquafaba pancakes
- Marshmallow fluff (which, inevitably, will lead to fluffernutters)
- Simple meringues
- Lemon meringue nests with whipped coconut cream and lemon curd (because as Gena has taught us, coconut cream is another magical ingredient)
- Macarons
- Lemon Meringue Pie
...and maybe once we’re well-versed in all things sweet and beany, we’ll start experimenting on our own, and tinkering with macaroons, soufflés, and these little coffee meringues. We’re also secretly hoping someone tries their hand at an aquafaba cocktail—if you do, or if you make any other aquafaba-related discoveries, we hope you’ll share your results in the comments and upload your recipes to the site!
The Food52 Vegan Cookbook is here! With this book from Gena Hamshaw, anyone can learn how to eat more plants (and along the way, how to cook with and love cashew cheese, tofu, and nutritional yeast).
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Written by: Marian Bull
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From BA: "Jason Eisner, the lead bartender of Gracias Madre and Café Gratitude, operates a vegan bar program and has found replacers to be excessively smelly, foul-tasting, or difficult to work with. He has spent over 100 hours learning about aquafaba, and it’s the only substitute he’ll use now. “If you fill two glasses, one with egg whites and the other with aquafaba, you wouldn’t even know the difference,” he said. “The only telltale sign is the smell: Egg whites smell like wet dog and chickpeas have no smell whatsoever.”"
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/aquafaba-health-benefits
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