You know the liquid you usually drain off a can of chickpeas you’ve opened to make hummus? Well, it turns out that that liquid is actually a healthy substitute for egg whites! Good news for vegans, this is! And that liquid has a name: aquafaba. It’s a name also given to any liquid in which legumes are canned or were cooked in.
According to the official aquafaba website www.aquafaba.com, its unique mix of starches, proteins, and other soluble plant solids, which soak out from the peas to the water during the cooking process, gives it a wide spectrum of emulsifying, foaming, binding, gelatinising and thickening properties. It can be used to replace egg whites in many sweet and savoury recipes. One medium egg white can be replaced with 30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) of aquafaba, or one medium whole egg with 45 ml (3 tbsp). Aquafaba fans have already developed many recipes for a variety of foods, including meringues, mayonnaise, butter, cheeses, pavlovas, macarons, ice cream, and baked goods.
Aquafaba contains about one-tenth of the protein of egg whites by weight and the best type has been revealed to be from chickpeas and white beans. Other legumes such as peas, lentils, soy, kidney, and black beans can be also used. It can be made at home simply by boiling the legumes in water. During the process of cooking legumes, the starches are gelatinised, which allows the soluble parts of the seed to leak out into the cooking water. More material can be extracted from the seeds if the cooking time, temperature and pressure are increased The discovery of aquafaba came from domestic research mainly from two vegans, Joël Roessel and Goose Wohlt.
Through experimentation, Wolhlt built on Reossel’s discovery that the water from the canned chick peas foams in ways that make for great baked goods.
According to aquafaba.com, Wohlt was experimenting with vegan egg whites and existing meringue techniques based on hydrocolloids.
“Hearing about the French video, he wondered how chickpea foam could be used to make a stable vegan meringue.
This led him to a surprising key discovery — that with the right adjustments, chickpea liquid, by itself, can act as a direct egg white replacer. He showed that perfect meringues with unrivalled taste and texture can be created using normal egg white techniques. All that was needed was just sugar and properly filtered and adjusted bean liquid. He posted his discovery to the popular vegan Facebook page, What Fat Vegans Eat, as a simple meringue recipe with two ingredients, sparking a minor revolution of sorts.
“This discovery was crucial, in part, because of its accessibility. It meant that anyone in the world could use the ubiquitous liquid from legumes as a general egg replacer through technique alone, not additional ingredients. There was no longer a need for protein isolates, gums or refined starches to achieve simple and delicate egg-like textures.
This discovery removed all the previous and remaining obstacles in vegan meringue making and opened up a whole new exciting world of eggless recipes,” reports the website.
In general, the composition of aquafaba depends on: 1. processing methods (soaking, cooking and industrial dehydration), 2. conditions (pH, temperature, pressure and treatment duration), 3. genotype (Kabuli or Desi chickpeas), 4. additives, 5. protein concentration, and 6. carbohydrate type and concentration.
Www.americastestkitchen.com advises that to measure the amount of aquafaba called for in a recipe, begin by vigorously shaking the unopened can of chickpeas.
Next, drain the chickpeas through a finemesh strainer over a bowl, and reserve the beans for another use. Whisk the aquafaba and then measure. While it may not be visible to the naked eye, the starches in the chickpea liquid settle in the can—in order to take advantage of them, you’ll need to agitate them to ensure they’re evenly distributed throughout the liquid.
Recipe from www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com
Vegan Marshmallow Fluff
Ingredients 1 can chickpeas or white beans (15oz) 1/3 cup sweetener of choice, such as agave, fine sugar, or xylitol for sugar-free optional pinch cream of tartar, for stabilisation
Instructions
Open the can of beans and drain just the watery part into a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. (Save the actual beans for a different recipe.) You should have about 1/2 cup chickpea liquid. Add all other ingredients, and beat with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer for 12-16 minutes. It will look thin for quite a while—and you’ll probably be cursing me—but don’t give up hope!
Mine really began to thicken around minutes 10-11. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers. It separates overnight, but re-beating works perfectly. (I’ve not tried this recipe without beaters, but you are free to experiment. The sugar version can be baked into meringues; I haven’t tried baking the liquid-sweetener version.) I’ve tried this healthy marshmallow fluff with both regular and unsalted bean liquid and can’t taste a big difference, so use whatever you have on hand.