If you've never heard the term aquafaba before, you're in good company. It is a vegan secret, used to make a light, fluffy meringue without eggs. It is the liquid you drain from a can of chickpeas!
The starchy liquid is a great binder directly from the can, but what really makes it magical is that it whips and creates a foam. Aquafaba is therefore able to trap air, giving items structure at the same time it delivers a fluffy crumb and lift.
Whipped aquafaba can be added to recipes, such as muffins, to make them light and fluffy, or you can add sugar and vanilla and make a meringue for pies and candies.
As it does with egg whites, adding a stabilizing ingredient improved the structure of whipped aquafaba. In sweet recipes, we usually used sugar. But there’s another ingredient we often whip into egg whites to add stability: cream of tartar. But why?
Cream of tartar is acidic—when added to egg whites, it prevents the egg proteins from bonding too tightly to each other and denatures them so they can create a foam that traps air bubbles and water more quickly and holds them in place for less weeping.
America's Test Kitchen whipped up some aquafaba meringue made with only aquafaba, with sugar, and with sugar and cream of tartar to compare the results. They also tested the juice from other kinds of beans to compare with chickpea aquafaba. Soy milk, coffee, vanilla extract, and now meringue -is there anything bean juice cannot do? Read about aquafaba and its properties at America's Test Kitchen. -via TYWKIWDBI
(Image credit: Hagar Or Ringel Maman (הגר אור רינגל ממן))