Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Making agar-agar with Gelidium amansii

2talltman - 4-10-2014 at 19:18

Maybe I just don't know where to look, but I can't seem to find any place to buy the actual algae so that I can attempt to make my own agar instead of buying it. Does anyone have suggestions on where I could find or order it, or other substitutes for it (that aren't gelatin)?

Chemosynthesis - 13-10-2014 at 03:12

You want the powder? It's available all over. You can get it in ethnic markets, grocery stores, online (just googled it). Am I misunderstanding your request?

Mesa - 13-10-2014 at 23:27

Quote: Originally posted by Chemosynthesis  
Am I misunderstanding your request?

Quote: Originally posted by 2talltman  
Maybe I just don't know where to look, but I can't seem to find any place to buy the actual algae so that I can attempt to make my own agar instead of buying it. Does anyone have suggestions on where I could find or order it, or other substitutes for it (that aren't gelatin)?


Indeed sir.

@OP: I wouldn't be surprised if it were completely unavailable(outside of travelling to the Philippines) on a non-commercial scale. Algae farming isn't exactly a hot hobby. Perhaps contact a few biochem suppliers and ask? Yeast strains/species are more prevalent with them but they might be able to help.

ldanielrosa - 3-11-2014 at 11:58

That's an interesting project. I don't know how much similarity it has with farming your own spirulina. I've seen a few articles on that one.

I'm curious about extracting the agar from the algae, and purifying it to your needs. This seems similar to my quandry concerning pectin.

macckone - 3-11-2014 at 15:03

agar agar is best bought and purified from the crude food grade stuff if you want to do purification. Getting the correct algae is difficult except from harvesters in mexico or other places.

Pectin on the other hand is from apples and apples are available around the world in markets.

macckone - 3-11-2014 at 15:07

A better source of pectin is orange peels .. but apples are used commercially.