This liquid called Aquafaba is trending just now. It’s being talked about by professional chefs as if it was a newly-discovered and exotic ingredient from the Amazon or a hitherto-undiscovered region of deepest China. In fact, this is a very humble by-product of cooking chickpeas. The other thing to note is that this isn’t expensive to make at home and you won’t need any cheffy equipment, either. In fact, you have probably been making it all your cooking life and throwing it away!
The name Aquafaba comes from the Latin aqua (water) and faba (beans). Aquafaba is the cooking liquid found in tinned beans and other legumes, or the liquid left over from cooking your own. It can be used to replace egg whites in many sweet and savoury recipes. This is a great advantage for those following a vegan lifestyle, in particular. The liquid is a unique mix of starches, proteins, fibre and sugars, which are left in the water after cooking. This gives Aquafaba a range of food-thickening possibilities.
Cooked chickpeas plus the magic liquid as a bonus
This is a real culinary breakthrough and is even being used in professional kitchens. The authors show us how to make our own Aquafaba at home, and it’s not rocket science. Start with chickpeas and water and cook the beans as usual. Thus, you have your regular cooked chickpeas plus the magic liquid as a bonus – and this book tells you what you can actually do with it.
Aquafaba beaten with a whisk produces a mountain of snowy meringue-like clouds, and the liquid is used in all the recipes listed here, and anyone would be tempted by these dishes. There are macarons, Lemon and Bergamot Meringue Pie, Waffles, and Pavlova, as well as some recipes for the chickpeas.
This is a fascinating book and presents a fresh view of ingredients that you would be using anyway. It’s not often you get anything for free but Aquafaba is just that.
Aquafaba
Authors: Sébastien Kardinal and Laura VeganPower
Published by: Grub Street Publishing
Price: £12.99
ISBN-13: 978-1911621157