Calcium lactate
A mild calcium salt — the one gentle enough to go in the food itself. It's the calcium for reverse spherification, at about 1–2% of the flavoured liquid, and a less bitter setting bath for direct.
neutral · faintly milky
Kinds
- Calcium lactate
- Cheap and neutral; dissolves slowly in cold liquid.
- Calcium lactate gluconate
- Dissolves more easily and tastes of even less — the usual choice for reverse spherification.
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Modernist suppliers, sometimes in spherification kits.
- Worth knowing
- Dissolve it completely in a little warm liquid before adding it to a cold base, or spheres set unevenly. Yoghurt, cream and milk carry enough calcium of their own to need none.