In another thread I asked about ways to get ‘tang’ into snack sticks.
Cut to the chase, being a newbie, I’m nervous about doing fermentation.
Unfortunately, as explained in that thread, ECA is extremely expensive here in Thailand. So I’ve decided to give DIY a go. Can’t find any existing DIY on this topic, so I’m starting my own. Suggestions and catching me in errors appreciated.
First, ECA is not likely to be a citric acid ‘crystal’ coated with hydrogenated palm oil, so much as a slurry of hydrogenated palm oil and citric acid powder. What the ratio of palm oil to citric acid powder is unknown to me. I would have to take a known sample and render out the acid, measuring before and after, and I don’t have any.
I plan on heating a sample of citric acid and as minimal hydrogenated palm oil as I can and still coat everything.(Yeah, I can get that cheap here. Weird.) Will the heat affect the citric acid at this point?
Next, I need to granulate the slurry. All methods I have been able to locate online about granulation require industrial level processing. No home level found. So I am thinking I will first spoon this slurry into silicone ice cube molds and freeze.
I now have several chunks of ECA. I plan to take this and grate with a chilled zester, or fine cheese grater, onto a silicone sheet or parchment paper. Spread a fine single layer, and heat in oven, or torch, to melt sharp edges of gratings. Freeze and scrape into cold container. Cold water rinse to remove any residual citric acid to exterior surfaces. Dry and store for use.
I will need to work out ratio and dosage for my recipes as I would not have anything to compare it to. It may be stronger or weaker than commercial.
$50 - $60 for 3oz of commercial ECA, vs $5 - $7 + labor for estimated 12oz
First, is it doable? I know it’d be tedious, but being retired I got more time than money now.
Second, is it safe? Chemical reactions, etc.
In the example above I mentioned hydrogenated palm oil because that was listed as the ingredient on the website for the commercial ECA I was able to find. Many sites refer to hydrogenated palm oil interchangeably as Palm wax. So there is confusion there as well. Avoiding anything with perfumes, as some are intended for candle making.
Other materials with similar properties are:
Bees wax
Coconut wax
Soy wax (I want to avoid this if possible)
I would love to hear your constructive thoughts on the above.
Thank you,
-sterling
Cut to the chase, being a newbie, I’m nervous about doing fermentation.
Unfortunately, as explained in that thread, ECA is extremely expensive here in Thailand. So I’ve decided to give DIY a go. Can’t find any existing DIY on this topic, so I’m starting my own. Suggestions and catching me in errors appreciated.
First, ECA is not likely to be a citric acid ‘crystal’ coated with hydrogenated palm oil, so much as a slurry of hydrogenated palm oil and citric acid powder. What the ratio of palm oil to citric acid powder is unknown to me. I would have to take a known sample and render out the acid, measuring before and after, and I don’t have any.
I plan on heating a sample of citric acid and as minimal hydrogenated palm oil as I can and still coat everything.(Yeah, I can get that cheap here. Weird.) Will the heat affect the citric acid at this point?
Next, I need to granulate the slurry. All methods I have been able to locate online about granulation require industrial level processing. No home level found. So I am thinking I will first spoon this slurry into silicone ice cube molds and freeze.
I now have several chunks of ECA. I plan to take this and grate with a chilled zester, or fine cheese grater, onto a silicone sheet or parchment paper. Spread a fine single layer, and heat in oven, or torch, to melt sharp edges of gratings. Freeze and scrape into cold container. Cold water rinse to remove any residual citric acid to exterior surfaces. Dry and store for use.
I will need to work out ratio and dosage for my recipes as I would not have anything to compare it to. It may be stronger or weaker than commercial.
$50 - $60 for 3oz of commercial ECA, vs $5 - $7 + labor for estimated 12oz
First, is it doable? I know it’d be tedious, but being retired I got more time than money now.
Second, is it safe? Chemical reactions, etc.
In the example above I mentioned hydrogenated palm oil because that was listed as the ingredient on the website for the commercial ECA I was able to find. Many sites refer to hydrogenated palm oil interchangeably as Palm wax. So there is confusion there as well. Avoiding anything with perfumes, as some are intended for candle making.
Other materials with similar properties are:
Bees wax
Coconut wax
Soy wax (I want to avoid this if possible)
I would love to hear your constructive thoughts on the above.
Thank you,
-sterling
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