Aquafaba
Liquid Gold in an Egg-Free World
In latin … Aqua is water. Faba is bean. Bean water. Which equals egg replacer.
Yup, my new liquid gold. And, lets be clear – I was a breastfeeding momma of two littles – the term “liquid gold” means something to me!
I wish I knew about this incredible phenomenon before we were living a food allergy life. I did not create this. This is not new. Just new to me … and maybe new to you?!
You can actually use the liquid in a can of chickpeas (or other beans) as an EGG REPLACER. That is right. Not only can you substitute it in common baked goods like brownies and cookies and breads, you can also whip it up into a meringue!
Aquafaba has been around for thousands of years but didn’t actually gain fame and glory until 2015 ish, when it was discovered that the properties in the bean water are remarkably similar to egg whites.
This changed my days of “iffy-to-average” gluten free, dairy free, egg free baking, to baking that finally looked and tasted good! This was also the start to my days of making good, home-cooked bread again! Not only was I thrilled, the family was thrilled … and our wallet was thrilled.
If you haven’t experimented with Aquafaba yet, I highly recommend. It doesn’t taste like anything special on it’s own – it actually doesn’t taste good at all on it’s own. However, once it is mixed with other ingredients it takes on other flavors, adds moisture and levity – can’t go wrong with those when baking egg and dairy free!
If you read about aquafaba and the specific definition you are going to see that it is the ‘water’ that comes from a can of chick-peas or garbanzo beans. You can actually use the liquid from any can of beans – most legumes that have been soaking in water.
Things to consider when selecting cans of beans for aquafaba is the quality of the beans and the canning process. We actually can most of our beans at home, which gives us the freedom to select and thoroughly rinse organic dried beans and can them into glass Mason Jars to reduce potential of cross contamination of allergens and negative health effects from aluminum cans.
I prefer canning and using homemade aquafaba from white beans and chickpeas. I have used from home-canned kidney and black beans as well. Though the aquafaba continues to morph into whichever egg replacing mutation you need, the flavor of ‘bean’ is more prominent in these darker beans.
Have fun whipping up your new egg replacer!!
xxoo
Ash
Whipped Aquafaba / Aqua-fa-ba
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer or Electric Mixer
Materials
- ¼ Cup Aquafaba liquid drained from a can of beans
- ¼ Tsp Cream of Tarter for levity
Instructions
- Place aquafaba and cream of tarter into a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high for 4-6 minutes until stiff peaks just form.
- You now have your whipped aquafaba for "Mom's Gluten-Free Egg-Free Sandwich Bread" or other baked good recipes, like meringue for the top of a chocolate pie!
Notes
- Once stiff peaks form in the aquafaba stop mixing. If you continue to mix too long they will loose their stiffness.
- You can add a tsp of sugar to the mixer to make them sweeter for meringues.
