Spherified Mango Ravioli Recipe

Spherification Process

The typical process for reverse spherification is actually pretty easy. You start with a non-acidic liquid, in this case fresh mango juice. You then blend in calcium to the liquid, we used calcium lactate.

To make the spherification process easier we took a page from the Alinea cookbook and froze the mango juice in spherical ice molds. Freezing the liquid makes it much easier for the juice to keep its form when you actually spherify it.

Once the juice is frozen you prepare the sodium alginate bath by blending the sodium alginate and sugar into water with an immersion blender. Warm the alginate solution until the sugar is completely dissolved and then strain it into a bowl.

Place the frozen mango juice into the alginate bath, making sure they are not touching. Depending on how thick you want the membrane to be you can leave it anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Once it is set remove them from the bath and rinse them off in water. You can then hold the spheres in water until you are ready to use them. They should stay spheres even when heated up to about 300°F / 148°C but prolonged heat can cause them to break down.

For more examples of spherification you can read the excellent Alinea cookbook.

Spherified Mango Ravioli Tools Needed

• Sodium Alginate
• Calcium Lactate
• Immersion Hand Blender
• Sauce Pan
• Chinois
• Hemispherical or spherical ice molds
• A scale with small measurements, preferably grams

If you like this recipe you can get more than 80 other recipes from my book Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Getting Started. The book covers many of the popular modernist techniques such as gelling, spherification, and foams. It also explores modernist ingredients like agar, sodium alginate, tapioca maltodextrin, and xanthan gum. It is all presented in an easy to understand format and I think it's the best way to learn about modernist cooking.

Also, if you are just getting started experimenting with molecular gastronomy and modernist cuisine then I highly recommend one of these molecular gastronomy kits. They have everything you need to do many different dishes.