![]() Agar was first described for use in microbiology in 1882 by the German microbiologist Walther Hesse, an assistant working in Robert Koch's laboratory, on the suggestion of his wife Fanny Hesse. īeginning in the late 19th century, agar began to be used as a solid medium for growing various microbes. Īgar was first subjected to chemical analysis in 1859 by the French chemist Anselme Payen, who had obtained agar from the marine algae Gelidium corneum. Jelly seaweeds were favoured and foraged by Malay communities living on the coasts of the Riau Archipelago and Singapore in Southeast Asia for centuries. Over the following centuries, agar became a common gelling agent in several Asian cuisines. The application of agar as a food additive may have been discovered in Japan in 1658 by Mino Tarōzaemon ( 美濃 太郎 左 衞 門), an innkeeper in current Fushimi-ku, Kyoto who, according to legend, was said to have discarded surplus seaweed soup ( Tokoroten) and noticed that it gelled later after a winter night's freezing. History Ogonori, the most common red algae used to make agar lichenoides is specifically referred to as agal-agal or Ceylon agar. It is also known as Kanten ( Japanese: 寒天) (from the phrase kan-zarashi tokoro ten ( 寒曬心太) or “cold-exposed agar”), Japanese isinglass, China grass, Ceylon moss or Jaffna moss. The word agar comes from agar-agar, the Malay name for red algae ( Gigartina, Eucheuma, Gracilaria) from which the jelly is produced. Agar can be used as a laxative an appetite suppressant a vegan substitute for gelatin a thickener for soups in fruit preserves, ice cream, and other desserts as a clarifying agent in brewing and for sizing paper and fabrics. The processing of food-grade agar removes the agaropectin, and the commercial product is essentially pure agarose.Īgar has been used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Asia and also as a solid substrate to contain culture media for microbiological work. These algae are known as agarophytes, belonging to the Rhodophyta (red algae) phylum. It forms the supporting structure in the cell walls of certain species of algae and is released on boiling. As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, the linear polysaccharide agarose and a heterogeneous mixture of smaller molecules called agaropectin. Green tea flavored yōkan, a popular Japanese red bean jelly made from agar A blood agar plate used to culture bacteria and diagnose infectionĪgar ( / ˈ eɪ ɡ ɑːr/ or / ˈ ɑː ɡ ər/), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from "ogonori" ( Gracilaria) and "tengusa" ( Gelidiaceae). For other uses, see Agar (disambiguation).
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