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As mentioned in a previous news item, agar was discovered by accident. Today, we will explain exactly how it was discovered and its power as a gelling agent.
Its origins date back to 17th-century Japan, where it was discovered by a curious coincidence.
According to the story, a Japanese emperor and his entourage got lost in the mountains during a snowstorm and found shelter in an inn. The innkeeper, Minora Tarazaemon, served them a bowl of seaweed soup. The next day, he noticed that the remains of the soup had turned into a strange jelly.
Tarazaemon discovered the gelling power of the seaweed used in the soup and realized that, if he reboiled the jelly with water, it would turn back into soup. In Japan, agar is known as kanten, meaning “frozen sky,” in honor of this legend
From then on, agar became part of the local cuisine and spread throughout the region. Traditional Chinese medicine also began attributing various beneficial properties to agar, including laxative, depurative, weight loss aid, and improvement of intestinal transit properties.
Eventually, European traders recognized agar’s potential in the food industry and began promoting its use on the continent, thus consolidating its global presence.
