Spherification is the culinary process of shaping a liquid into spheres which visually and texturally resemble caviar. The technique was originally developed by the creative team at the Spanish restaurant, elBulli under the direction of executive chef Ferran Adrià. There are two main methods for creating such spheres, which differ based on the calcium content in the product to be spherified.
For substances containing no calcium, the liquid is mixed with sodium alginate, and dripped into a cold solution of calcium chloride or calcium carbonate. ‘Reverse’ spherification, for use with substances which contain calcium, requires dripping the substance into an alginate bath. Both methods give the same result: a sphere of liquid held by a thin gel membrane, texturally similar to caviar.
The Daily Omnivore 
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