Processbeginnerdraft
Setting with gelatine
Also searched as: gelatine, jelly, panna cotta, setting
In short: Gelatine dissolves in warm liquid and forms a network as it cools that holds the liquid in place. In the mouth it melts again.
Picture it
Like a fishing net that tightens in the cold and holds the water in its mesh.
Level 3 · Gelatine cooling down≈ 10 nm
Simplified model
Temperature thresholds
4
Temperature thresholds0 °C
0 °CDrag to try120 °C
- 4 °Cfridge: the network sets fully
- 35 °Cmelts (that is why it melts in the mouth)
- 60 °Cwarm: dissolves well
- 100 °Cboiling weakens the gelatine
Below 4 °C none of this happens yet. From 4 °C: fridge: the network sets fully.
Guide values
What happens
is made of long protein chains. When warm they float freely; as they cool they link into a network. Because it melts again at body temperature, panna cotta melts on the tongue. Boiling weakens the gelatine, and in raw pineapple or kiwi cut the network apart.
Why it matters
Explains why gelatine must never boil, why desserts need time in the fridge and why pineapple jelly does not set.
Rules of thumb
- Soak leaf gelatine in cold water, squeeze it out and dissolve it in warm (not boiling) liquid.
- Chill for several hours.
- Heat raw pineapple, kiwi or papaya first, or use tinned.
Levers
2
Temperaturewarm → dissolves, cold → sets
Timelonger in the cold → firmer
Related entries
Sources · 3
- Johnson & Wales University: Baking Science – Thickening and Gelling
- Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking (2004), Kapitel Milch, Zucker, Schokolade
- Great British Chefs: How to use gelatine leaf