carrageen
carragheen

Soak the carrageen in the tepid water for 10 minutes.

The carrageen will now be swollen and jellylike.

In addition, it has a higher concentration of carrageen, a stabilizing and thickening agent used in many household products.

Nowadays, Irish chefs are becoming increasingly inventive with carrageen, adding it to everything from salsas to cheesecake.

To create his solids, he works with different gelling agents, from gelatin to seaweed extracts like agar and carrageen.

NOTE: Carrageen can be served with fruit compote or a caramel sauce.

(Carrageen, a gelatin derived from seaweed, is commonly used to replace fat in frozen desserts, cookies and cakes.)

Commercially produced sour cream often contains additional thickening agents such as gelatin, rennet, guar and carrageen, as well as acids to artificially sour the product.

Even Ronnybrook Farm Dairy eggnog, about the best tasting and most sumptuous commercial brand sold in the New York area, is made from a mix that includes natural thickeners like carrageen and milk solids, as well as turmeric and annatto for color.

One of the best commercial eggnogs is made by Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in Ancramdale, N.Y. Though it contains carrageen, a thickener made from seaweed, and is tinted with turmeric and annatto, it is a rich, sumptuous indulgence.

Later in the 19th century carrageen - popularly known as "Irish moss," even though it is is not a moss at all, but a dark purplish-red seaweed that grows in pools and on rocks - was used as a remedy for chest ailments and as a jelling agent for puddings.

CARRAGEEN MOSS PUDDING 1/4 cup dried carrageen moss (available in health-food stores) 1 cup tepid water 3 3/4 cups milk 2 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs, separated into yolks and whites 1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

Boil for an hour and 15 minutes with the lid on then add another 5g of hops, the orange zest and the carragheen.

Mastocarpus stellatus, also called Clúimhín Cait (cats' puff), carragheen, or false Irish moss, is a species of red algae closely related to Irish Moss, or Chondrus crispus.