Culinary Foam

Culinary foam (Spanish espuma) is one of the most famous finds of molecular cuisine: a weightless, airy texture that carries the clean, concentrated flavour of the main product with almost no added extraneous ingredients. It was popularised by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià.

Foams are created in two main ways. The first is with a culinary siphon charged with a nitrous-oxide cartridge: an aromatic liquid (juice, stock, purée) with a thickener or natural protein is loaded into the siphon, and the gas under pressure saturates it with millions of bubbles, turning it into a light mousse. The second way is whisking a liquid with lecithin using an immersion blender, which gives an unstable “airy” foam (an air). The stability of the foam depends on the gelling agent or emulsifier — gelatine, agar, lecithin, egg white. Foams may be hot or cold, sweet or savoury. Their value lies in the ability to present an intense flavour in a form that literally dissolves in the mouth, lending a dish lightness, volume, and elegance.