Mystery science eater

Photographs: Roxana Marroquin

Sodium alginate or pectin and calcium

THE FINE-DINING CREATION:
At wd~50 (50 Clinton St between Rivington and Stanton Sts, 212-477-2900), chef-owner Wylie Dufresne serves “strawberry cheesecake,” a pellet of soft cream cheese encased in a strawberry membrane. The dish takes advantage of a gelling process that occurs when calcium (in the cream cheese) interacts with fruit- or algae-derived gelling agents, in this case, pectin in the strawberry juice.

THE INDUSTRIAL VERSION:
While the technique first appeared in fine-dining kitchens when famed Spanish chef Ferran Adrià debuted his olive oil “caviar” in 2003, “spherification” (Adrià’s term) has actually been in use much longer: Just take a look at your martini’s pimento-stuffed olive. Food-industry researchers, in their ongoing attempt to increase production efficiency, found that a gel made from pimento puree could be manufactured in a uniform size, making the mechanical stuffing process easier.

See the next trick: Methylcellulose