Melon Cantaloupe Caviar Recipe

This is a famous molecular gastronomy dish created by Ferran Adria that was introduced at El Bulli in 2003 for the first time. Melon Cantaloupe Caviar is made with the basic spherification technique, is easy to make and tastes delicious. This recipe is the original from El Bulli.

Making spherification caviar is fun but it can be a draining process to make enough for a few cocktails or dishes one drop at a time using just a syringe or squeeze bottle. With the Caviar Maker you can now multiply the production by 96 times with no extra effort! You can purchase the Caviar Maker from our store.

Caviar Ingredients

250 g (8.8 oz) Cantaloupe juice

2 g sodium alginate (0.8%)

Calcium Bath

500 g (18 oz) water

2.5 g calcium chloride

Preparation

Start by preparing the calcium bath. Dissolve the calcium chloride in the water and keep it in the fridge while you prepare the melon mix for the caviar.

To make the Cantaloupe juice simply cut the melon in squares, blend it and then pass it through a fine sieve.

Mix the sodium alginate with 1/3 of the melon Cantaloupe juice using an immersion blender until the sodium alginate is completely dissolved. If this is your first time doing this, be aware that this may take longer than expected. Once the sodium alginate is dissolved, mix with the rest of the melon juice. Strain to eliminate some of the air bubbles created by the immersion blender.

You are now ready to start creating the caviar! Remove the calcium bath from the fridge. Fill a syringe with the melon juice and alginate mixture and expel it drop by drop into the calcium bath. The syringe needs to be high enough for the drops to sink when they get in contact with the bath but not too high or the drops may break into smaller drops creating “baby” spheres. Leave the caviar "cooking" for about 1 minute in the calcium bath and then carefully remove it using a sieve. Then rinse it very gently with water to remove the calcium.

Consume immediately since the jellification process continues even after removing the caviar from the calcium bath and will eventually convert into a solid gel sphere with no magical liquid inside. To improve the technique read 7 Tips for Making Spherification Caviar.

Serving suggestions 

- Serve it with Prosciutto

- Combine it with passion fruit seeds and mint (El Bulli dish)