What Exactly Is Aquafaba, and How Do I Use It?

Authored by americastestkitchen.com and submitted by willowander
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Odds are, you’ve been taking one of the most important ingredients in the vegan larder and tossing it in the garbage can. It’s called aquafaba, and it’s (basically) free! When we refer to aquafaba (as we often do in our cookbook on vegan cooking, Vegan for Everybody), we’re talking about the liquid in a can of chickpeas. (We’re not talking about the liquid in a can of any other beans. Stick to the liquid from canned chickpeas—it works best.)

The starchy liquid is a great binder directly from the can, but what really makes it magical is that it whips and creates a foam. Aquafaba is therefore able to trap air, giving items structure at the same time it delivers a fluffy crumb and lift.

We turned to aquafaba again and again while developing recipes for Vegan for Everybody, and so we learned an awful lot about the stuff and how to work with it. Here are some helpful tips for how to incorporate aquafaba into your cooking and baking.

TheRightMethod on April 3rd, 2020 at 16:26 UTC »

We used this all the time in restaurants. Vegan Pavlova was a popular use. There's plenty of uses.

I know others don't but we found cream of tartar definitely makes for a remarkably stable fluff when compared to egg whites. As for the flavour, straining it through a fine mesh does help.

Edit: Also, if you're one of those bakers that make vanilla sugar I suggest using that as opposed to adding extract into the mixture directly.

Edit 2: Forgot to mention, one huge benefit to Aquafaba in restaurants is in the bar menu. Many people are squeamish (although I still prefer the real thing) about egg whites in their cocktails. Having an alternative makes that entire category of drinks available to a wider audience.

Edit 3: This got a little more popular so another trick. Canned chickpeas contain a lot of sodium, if you use your own liquid after starting from dry chickpeas you'll end up with a typically cleaner (not clearer) product with substantially less sodium.

Final edit : At this point I hope some of I'll send me pictures of hour successes and experiments with aquafaba!

Final edit2: Rinse your dried beans before soaking! Having spent time in an Indian Restaurant someones job was to pick out all the impurities in dried chickpeas, just don't risk it even with sealed plastic bags of beans. Don't soak your food in potentially dirty water. Quick rinse, then soak, drain and cook with fresh water.

furudenendu on April 3rd, 2020 at 16:12 UTC »

and only chickpeas, not other beans

This is erroneous. The liquid from cans of lots of different legumes can be used as aquafaba. You can also use the liquid left over from cooking dried beans.

notagoodboye on April 3rd, 2020 at 15:42 UTC »

"Aquafaba" just means "bean water" in Latin.