Sandwiches
My experiments for the upcoming lunch on Sunday are going well. I figured out how to make veganiase. The thickening and stabilizing agent is xanthum gum, this prevents the vegtable oil and tofu from seperating. I even figured out the flavor of product mayonaise; mustard powder, distilled vinegar, and a little honey. I’ll try just tofu, olive oil, and zanthum gum though, to see if it works for regular mayonaise. The garbonzo cake came out well, and along with tomatoes and sourdough makes a good sandwich.
The PBJ tests are all successful. Roasted peanut, hazelnut, and pecan is really good. I don’t have a grinder, so I have to make it by hand, with a pestle. The jelly is from blackberries from Mount Tabor. Lindsey mentioned that Pamonas pectin creates a gelatin texture which I was worried about, but this jelly is quite jammy.
Some people have expressed concern about sprays being used on the blackberry bushes, but I called up Parks and Rec, and they spray only after the fruiting season, in the fall. That sounds safer… if not totally kosher.
August 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I recently learned that xanthum gum is one of the many derivatives of corn. It always sounded much more dangerous than that to me! I was also surprised to learn that it predates agribusiness. Who new?
August 10th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Hmm, corn derivative. That’s news to me. But it seems that it does not predate agribusiness. Wikipedia says:
It was brought into commercial production by the Kelco Company under the trade name Keltrol in the early 1960s.
I learned about it from the babycakes cookbook of vegan and gluten free baking. They use it extensively in everything as a sort of gluten and egg replacer.
Also this interesting tidbit:
In the oil industry, xanthan gum is used in large quantities, usually to thicken drilling mud.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I should restate that it seems it is NOW derived almost exclusively from corn, but perhaps it was not originally a product of it. That is, companies tend to grow it with corn sugars. Also, in the wiki article it says that it was developed by the USDA, which, I guess, could be viewed as the original agribusiness!
August 11th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
oh nice background check on the spraying at mt tabor. Is that a commercial gas range in your kitchen? Folks said the food was awesome, heard good reports from Little Red Bike Cafe!!! and Keegan told me the coffee was good.