Carrageen Custard Fail

I got a cool new cookbook on seaweed, called The Seaweed Cookbook by Caroline Warwick-Evans and Tim Van Berkel, and I decided to try a carrageen recipe first.

Tangy Raspberry Moss Pots (but with Mango)

I didn’t have raspberries but figured mango & pineapple would be a fine substitute. All went well until I forgot to include the lemon juice. I had the custard completely made but had forgotten that step so I poured everything back into the bowl and added the lemon. The whole thing curdled when I stirred it and ended up a complete mess so I threw it all away.

The carrageen part, however, turned out really well and was very interesting. The water turned gelatinous as it cooked the carrageen and then straining it was easy. The strained carrageen goo was not unpleasant and had a slight saltiness so I think salt could largely be on omitted when cooking with carrageen. Photos of the experience below.

I refused to be defeated by this recipe so I tried again and followed the recipe precisely. Unfortunately the final consistency was still off! I am not sure if it was user error or if the recipe instructions assume you have basic knowledge of making custards (which I don’t possess) and skipped explaining some steps. But I guess that is also user error.

Conclusion

I am determined to get this right but I used up all my carrageen on the three attempts (I spared you from the second trial disaster), so I’ll have to try again another time. My hunch is the lemon juice is too much and causing problems so I’ll look for a lemon-free recipe.

The carrageen is a really interesting ingredient and fun to use, but I don’t understand it well enough to pull off a raw egg lemon custard with it. The flavor of my final dessert below was very good, but the texture was weird and stringy. Excited to try again!