Agar
Mizu yōkan - a popular Japanese red bean jelly made from agar. Scientific usage A blood agar plate used to culture bacteria and diagnose infection.
Agar or
agar-agar is a gelatinous substance, obtained from algae and discovered in the late 1650s or early 1660s by Minoya Tarozaemon in Japan, where it is called
Kanten. Agar is derived from the polysaccharide agarose, which forms the supporting structure in the cell walls of certain species of algae, and which is released on boiling. These algae are known as agarophytes and belong to the Rhodophyta phylum. Agar is actually the resulting mixture of two components: the linear polysaccharide
agarose, and a heterogeneous mixture of smaller molecules called
agaropectin. Throughout history into modern times, agar has been chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Asia and also as a solid substrate to contain culture media for microbiological work. Agar can be used as a laxative, an appetite suppressant, vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in fruit preserves, ice cream, and other desserts, as a clarifying agent in brewing, and for sizing paper and fabrics.