What in the world is Aquafaba?!
I learned a new word last week. It sounded so different to anything I’d heard before, especially in the context of food, that I had to look it up immediately — aquafaba. To me, it sounded more like some kind of medical ointment, or possibly a villain in a cartoon set underwater, maybe an aquatic transportation device. Anyway, it turns out that aquafaba is the liquid that you find in a can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), and it’s pretty handy stuff, especially if you’re trying to eat plant-based. Aquafaba, when thickened, takes on the texture of egg white and can be used as a replacement in most recipes.
In my case, I was cooking macarons for the first time (they’ve been a bit of a longstanding bucket list item for me). Last week, a dear friend thoughtfully sent me a cookbook by The Great British Bake-Off contestant Kim-Joy Hewlett (descriptively named Baking with Kim-Joy). It features a ton of whimsical desserts and cakes, many with a vegan alternative. I finally committed to making macarons — it was the animal-shaped ones that had me ready to take the plunge (bc who doesn’t want a fancy baking item shaped like a cat or a koala?!).
To get the aquafaba ready, I just had to drain the liquid from cans of chickpeas into a bowl (rather than pouring it down the drain like I usually do), measure out about ¾ cup (it turns out that one can of chickpeas has almost exactly ¾ cup of aquafaba — close enough!), and add it to a pot over medium heat and stir until it had reduced by about half. Then I weighed two separate portions (40g and 45g in this case). I noticed a few things when working with the aquafaba — it starts off pretty thin, and doesn’t have a real scent or taste, maybe (and unsurprisingly) faintly reminiscent of chickpeas if anything. It didn’t have the offputting globs usually associated with egg whites. As it thickened, the process started off gradually. At one point, I was distracted and went back to find an extremely reduced amount in my pot — oops. It seems to reach a particular thickening point and then go on full blast — good to know for next time! It definitely had an egg white texture to it and acted much the same when being folded into the macaron batter.
How did the macarons turn out? Pretty well for a first try. Pictured: the best ones — I’m kinda proud of the feet on these ones! Not pictured: the ones with cracks, lumps, the footless ones — still delicious, though! I wasn’t expecting perfection on my first go as macarons are notoriously difficult to make, and I don’t consider myself a skilled baker. Will keep you posted when I do some more research, and decide to give it another go.
I would definitely try aquafaba again when looking to bake something plant-based. It’s a great alternative to using egg whites.
