Vegan - Aquafaba

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I'm a member of the Vegan society and I get an emailed newsletter from them every now and again it often has items in it that come as a surprise. The last one was no exception.

Aquafaba - Ok, I have to confess I had no idea what it was either.

It is the liquid that beans are cooked or canned in and there is an amazing number of things you can do with it!
http://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/13-amazing-things-you-can-do-aquafaba
Vegans don't eat eggs, and egg replacements are not usually very good, but this option apparently offers some exceptional options.

1) Simple meringues
2) Pavlova
3) Lemon meringue pie
4) Mousse au chocolat
5) Nougat and fudge
6) Baked Alaska
7) Strawberry ice cream
8) Buttercream
9) Marshmallow fluff
10) Brownies
11) Macarons
12) Gluten-free cinnamon blondies
13) Mayo

Some of the pictures look fantastic and each comes with another recipe! Follow the above link to get to the other recipes. The idea of using it for mayo is an interesting one, but why not? Beans are savoury to start off with!

 

[Morning Glory]

Its funny, I was chatting in another thread about bean water. @Dianemwj was saying how she didn't like it and I was arguing that it was good... Anyway, I am as surprised as you are about its uses. Sadly for me, most of the recipes are sweet and I don't like sweet (not my thing) except for the mayonnaise. Now, you need to understand that I'm actually allergic to mayo. I've no idea why as I'm not allergic to eggs or oil. But if I eat it mistakenly, say in a sandwich, I feel sick in the stomach within minutes and it lasts for several hours. I get the same effect with taramasalata even though I can eat caviar with no problem (bring it on! ). So-oo, this recipe is a revelation. I'll be able to eat mayonnaise! Its really difficult to imagine that it could work, except that I suppose the protein and carbo in the bean water forms an emulsion with the oil. I'm most definitely going to try this.

Thank you, @SatNavSaysStraightOn

 

[Rosyrain]

What an interesting article! It always amazes me what people can achieve with a little imagination and creativity. Someone, somewhere, made a pot of beans and then thought to themselves..."what can I do with the bean water?" I have always just poured it down the sink and never gave it a second thought. The only thing I did not get from the article was how exactly the bean water is used, is it reduced so it becomes thicker, or is the water just added to the recipe as is?

 

[Morning Glory]

What an interesting article! It always amazes me what people can achieve with a little imagination and creativity. Someone, somewhere, made a pot of beans and then thought to themselves..."what can I do with the bean water?" I have always just poured it down the sink and never gave it a second thought. The only thing I did not get from the article was how exactly the bean water is used, is it reduced so it becomes thicker, or is the water just added to the recipe as is?

The recipes I looked at in the link (I didn't look at them all) did not reduce the bean water. Use it straight from the can.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

What an interesting article! It always amazes me what people can achieve with a little imagination and creativity. Someone, somewhere, made a pot of beans and then thought to themselves..."what can I do with the bean water?" I have always just poured it down the sink and never gave it a second thought. The only thing I did not get from the article was how exactly the bean water is used, is it reduced so it becomes thicker, or is the water just added to the recipe as is?

I had always assumed that it was whipped to produce a froth, but it seems not reading one of the articles in the links.

Somer at Vedged Out wanted to see how aquafaba worked as a straight up egg replacer, no whipping. And she made the best chocolate chip cookies EVER. This is the recipe that proved that straight, unwhipped bean liquid could replace eggs in baking.

 

[Rosyrain]

I had always assumed that it was whipped to produce a froth, but it seems not reading one of the articles in the links.

So the bean liquid is added to what you want to add it to in place of eggs just as it is? I would think that the liquid would make the batter runny, but I guess that is not the case. Very interesting anyhow and I think I am going to try one of these recipes next time I have some aquafaba from cooking beans. I am not vegan, but I am interested in how these desserts would taste.

 

[Elvisish]

I came across this amazing use of bean water a couple of months, and I can't stop making things with it! I usually use chickpea water, whisk it up till its nice and fluffy, add 100g of sugar, tsp of xanthum gum just to stiffen it up a bit, tsp of apple cider vinegar and tsp of vanilla essence. Amazingly it doesn't taste how chick peas smell :P And it can be used for meringue for making nests, pavlova, and baked alaska, or if you use icing sugar it actually makes a great royal icing! Really fun experimenting with all the things you can do with it