Gelatin or Agar Agar

[jeep]

I've always used shrimp as the main binder for the food mixes I make with good success, but with the most recent recipe I made it seems to fall apart a little more than usual. This is because I've made changes based upon a recipe that uses raw mussels. Due to the cost, I kept the main part of the recipe and omitted the mussels in favor of BH and additional shrimp.

For those who use gelatin in your food mixes, how much do you use or how do you measure? I've also been considering the plant based gelatin Agar Agar.

Anyone use either of these? I'm making about 10+ pounds.

[wild4discus]

I use agar agar in my mix and it’s definitely better than gelatin IMO. It doesn’t dissolve as easily as gelatin in higher water temps, holds the mix together much better, and has a higher nutritional value as it’s derived from seaweed. The more agar you use the firmer the mix. I usually make about 2 pounds at a time and I put in a couple of tablespoons, mix well, spread it about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick on a wax paper or parchment lined cookie sheet, and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees to activate the agar agar. Comes out perfect every time.

[jeep]

Thanks for the input Tony. Just curious, when you heat it to 200 degrees, does it cook the mix or is the temp low enough to just activate the agar agar?

[CliffsDiscus]

I use egg powder(99% protein)as a binder.

Cliff

[jeep]

Cliff, I may be wrong but I thought you fed only bh? Would egg powder bind up other ingredients as well? The recipe I'm using does have eggs in it but not much and not powder.

[CliffsDiscus]

Cliff, I may be wrong but I thought you fed only bh? Would egg powder bind up other ingredients as well? The recipe I'm using does have eggs in it but not much and not powder.

Brian,
I feed a variety of food, I sample test food for several fish food venders. There are couple of BH binders that works fairly well
they are Metamucil and egg white in a powder form.

Cliff

[jeep]

Cliff, interesting. I see that Metamusil is psyllium which has great nutritional value. I'm making about 15lbs of mix so I'll do some checking around on how much may be needed.

Thanks!

[jeep]

One more question Cliff. Do you have any idea how much of either of these to use in a mix? Per pound, per ounce?

[CliffsDiscus]

One more question Cliff. Do you have any idea how much of either of these to use in a mix? Per pound, per ounce?
Hi Brian,
I can give you an estimate because I don't really measure. So for the Metamucil I would guest for 10 lbs dilute 3 teaspoons of
Metamucil to 3/4 cup of water do this last because the Metamucil will gel up very quickly. If you want to use the egg white powder just add 2 tablespoons to absorb the
bloodily beefheart add more if needed.

Cliff

[wild4discus]

It just activates the agar agar. It doesn’t cook the mix. Just don’t go over 20 minutes.