Making Spherification Caviar the Easy Way

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!

Creating caviar spheres one drop at a time not only takes time but it also requires to produce very small batches given that all the caviar spheres need to be removed from the calcium bath after about a minute or they will convert into jelly with no liquid inside. For example, if you release a drop every 1 second, by the time you have 60 drops in the bath, the first sphere is ready to be removed from the bath while the last one needs to be in the bath for another minute. Very annoying!!

The Caviar Maker has 96 pipettes connected to a syringe releasing 96 drops into the calcium bath in the same amount of time you would be releasing just one drop using a syringe or squeeze bottle.  Now you can release 96 drops every 1 second and have 960 caviar spheres in 10 seconds and remove them all at the same time after 1 minute and 10 seconds ready to delight several diners.

Make Melon Caviar, Honey Caviar, Cointreau Caviar, Apple Juice Caviar or your favorite juice or spirit caviar. Spherification caviar is done using the basic spherification process which consists of submerging a liquid with sodium alginate in a bath of calcium chloride. You can learn more about spherification caviar here.

How to Use the Caviar Maker

1- Slip the flexible tube onto the fitting of the caviar maker.

2- Add the desired caviar mixture to the caviar maker tray. A minimum of 75 ml must be in the tray in order to avoid breaking vacuum when it is aspirated.

3- Replace the top section of the caviar maker over the tray containing the caviar mix. The tips of the 96 wells will now be immersed in the caviar mixture.

4- Back off the syringe plunger to 5cc. Creates air space to provide extra push at the end of the dispensing cycle.

5- Attach the tubing to the syringe.

6- Aspirate the syringe plunger to the 20 ml mark on the barrel of the syringe in a slow and steady motion.

7- Carefully lift the caviar maker from the tray and place it about 3 inches over the calcium bath. Slowly depress the syringe plunger from 20ml to 0 ml.

8- After a minute, remove the caviar spheres from the calcium bath, rinse them in a clean water bath and serve immediately.

TIP: place the caviar maker on a flat and leveled surface to ensure that all the pipettes get filled at the same rate. Make sure the container has enough liquid and do not suck any air into the pipettes. If some pipettes end up with more liquid than others, it will be more difficult to clean the device later. (when you pump air into the caviar maker, it will come out through the empty pipettes and the liquid will remain in the pipettes that were filled more)

Cleaning the Caviar Maker

Cleaning is the only small inconvenience of the caviar maker but if you follow these tips, it will be a little easier. Clean immediately after each use. If you let the liquid dry in the caviar maker, it will be more difficult to clean it.

1- Remove syringe, fill it with air, connect it to the hose and pump air into the caviar maker to expel any liquid left inside.

2- Remove hose and syringe from caviar maker.

3- Flip the caviar maker upside down and rinse with warm water the pipettes.

4- Keep it under running warm water until the caviar maker box is almost full with water.

5- Block the hose connector with one finger and vigorously shake the caviar box sideways with the pipettes pointing downwards.

6- Remove your finger from the hose connector and let all the water come out through the hose connector.

7- Repeat steps 3 to 6 a few times until the caviar box is completely clean.

8- Rinse the box with an antibacterial solution such as white vinegar or 3% hydrogen pyroxide solution. You can inject the antibacterial solution into the caviar box using the syringe. Rinse with clean water.