Artisans at London-based design studio Bompass & Parr have teamed up with scientists at the Aerogelex laboratory in Hamburg (Germany) to transfer the properties of the world’s lightest solid material into an edible dessert.
Airgel was invented in 1931, by American chemist Samuel Kistler after betting with scientist Charles on replacing water in a gel compound with air without causing shrinkage. With an air content of 95% – 99.8%, airgel is recognized as the lightest solid in the world, so it made sense for the designers at Bompass & Parr to try and simulate the process of making the airgel. to create the world’s lightest dessert.
The lightest cake in the world with 99% air and extremely low calories. (source: Oddycentral).
Airgels can be made with a variety of materials, but for this particular project, Bompas & Parr focused on albuminoids , globular proteins found in egg whites. They set out to create a meringue, but did it in a slightly different way than usual. They started by creating a hydrogel of egg white that was then molded in a mold before being put into a solution of calcium chloride and water.
The liquid in the meringue gel is replaced by liquid carbon dioxide, which can be turned into a gas in a process known as the all-important drying. Finally, the gas is removed from the product, leaving only the skeleton of the original gel. In this particular case, the end product is a meringue dessert consisting of 96% air and weighing only one gram. With an extremely low calorie content, this will probably be a dish many dieters enjoy.
Currently, this meringue is on display at the King Abdulaziz (Ithra) World Culture Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
There’s no word on what the super-light meringue tastes like, but considering its main ingredient – the atmosphere – it’s probably not the best dessert ever made. However, the experience of the dish evaporating in your mouth will certainly be quite a special experience.