Crispy coffee foam

[Douglas]

I'm trying to make a crispy coffee foam based on the recipe of crispy carrot foam I found in the hydrocolloid recipe collection):

250g carrot juice

50g water

50g sugar

8g methocel f50

Bring carrot juice, water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, pour into boil and refrigerate until chilled. add methocel to 250g of the chilled carrot juice and blend with immersion blender. Transfer to stand mixer with whisk attachment. Whip on high speed for 10min or until stiff peaks form. Pour onto silicone mat and spread out evenly.

Unfortunately, I don't have methylcellulose type F, but I do have methylcellulose type A available. I didn't find anything useful on the internet as to whether that should work, or what intermediary steps I need to take to get it right, except that I might have to dissolve the methylcellullose in hot water first as hydration is not as reliable for the A type as for the F type.

Any suggestions?

[TheTInCook]

I can't see it making a huge difference.

Type f methylcellulose is a hydroxypopyl methylcellulose, and that just generally means it gels at a higher temp. It might have a higher sugar tolerance, but I don't really remember. The mc called for in that recipe is rated at 50, which means it's a low viscosity colloid.

The type A methylcellulose is just normal methylcellulose, which means that it is much thicker, makes a stronger gel, and gels at a cooler temp. I had some chart somewhere (that I can't find now), that showed that type f might be a better foamer, but it wasn't much of the difference. The 'margin of error' overlapped.

Give it a shot, coffee is cheaper then carrot juice.

[TheTInCook]

Did a little more research, and in one of my dow charts Methylcellulose type A4C (which is what I assumed you have since it's one of the recommended types in Ideas In Food) is rated as "better" for air entrainment, while Type F50 is rated at "best." This scale has three scores good, better, and best.

So yeah, F50 is recommended, but you can probably get by with A4C.