Foam (culinary)

Foam has been used in many forms in the history of cooking: for example, whipped cream, meringue, and mousse are all foams. In these cases, the incorporation of air or another gas creates a lighter texture and/or different mouth feel.

In recent years, foam has developed as a molecular gastronomy technique, in particular as developed by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià.^{[citation needed]} In these cases, natural flavors (such as fruit juices, infusions of aromatic herbs, etc) are mixed with a neutrally-flavored gelling or stabilizing agent such as agar or lecithin, and either whipped with a hand-held immersion blender or extruded through a whipped cream canister equipped with N₂O cartridges. Such foams add flavor without significant substance, and thus allow cooks to integrate new flavors without changing the physical composition of a dish. Some famous food-foams are foamed espresso, foamed mushroom, foamed beet and foamed coconut. An espuma or thermo whip is commonly used to make these foams through the making of a stock, creating a gel and extruding through the N₂O canister.