At least it's not a foam.

The thought comes to mind that they could make a visually interesting break in a Pousse Café, or as a garnish on food.

David Arnold, the director of culinary technology at the French Culinary Institute, said, “There’s so much to be done with drinks that’s not being done that doesn’t involve tiny little balls.”

That about sums up my feeling.

At the Molecular Mixology event put on by Plymouth Gin and the USBG in SF last summer we all played with the stuff just after making foam. It was easy to produce enough for a few drinks at a time and each bartender was creative with shape, color, and flavor combonations. It struck me as whimsicle at the time taking much more energy to fashion each ball than it is worth.

At the Maitre de Chai Dinner by Grey Goose dinner last month here in Portland we started with a bird-tini "served in an inovative fashion with Noilly Prat Original French Dry Vermouth jelly balls (err cube)." This ment that if we wanted the vermouth we could take a bite out of a big jelly then wash it down with Grey Goose. I tried to let the martini warm a bit to see if the jelly broke down. It didn't and had a warm bird-tini with a chunk of dry vermouth in the bottom of the glass. I would rather have my vermouth integrated because I like the lubrication it adds to my palate. Still, I see how it helps to keep the flavorless... well.. flavorless. In the dessert course we were served a "cinnamon flavored apple and pear oyster, created through molecular mixology" paired with a cocktail of the same flavor profile and ingrediants. About half of the people at the table took a little nibble of the jelly thing then passed, the rest didn't even try it.

I think the caviar is a neet thing to try once, and we should consider it nothing more than a garnish. To leave an ingrediant out of a cocktail and replace it in the form of a tapioca shaped jelly is short-sighted  imo. I do think it would be cool to brake down a drink and serve the idividual liquors and syrups on the side of a cocktail in the caviar form to help a guest differenciate the complex ingrediants, but again this is for a set group of people in a controlled environment.

 Putting them on food as a garnish is a good idea and would make a pairing menu intersting.  Applewood Smoked Salmon and Campari Caviar over baby Arugula with balsalmic vin.  Paired with a Trident or a Negroni.

I'll admit, I've never had a "molecular mixology" cocktail. That said, I have dined at Moto in Chicago and it blew my mind. I do think however that most of these techniques are better suited to food rather than drink. Still, any chance that I get to experiment and LEARN is a valuable experience in my book. Would I want a Cape Cod turned into "caviar" served in a shot glass garnished with a lime? Probably not. But if it stokes my creativity and makes me rethink some preconceptions that I already have about cocktails then thats a good thing.

I should find a contact for Cointreau and request a kit for the OBG.

Thanks for pointing out that video, boozemonkey. However a gelatin caviar is a single texture whereas a sodium alginate caviar is a thin shell of (let's call it) gel around a liquid interior (depending on the size of the sphere).

The isolation of an ingredient from the rest of a drink more-or-less makes it a garnish, doesn't it? the equivalent of a lime wedge meant to be set aside or squeeze by the drinker.

I'd be intrigued by a (large-ish) sphere of creme de violette at the bottom of an aviation (or would the specific gravity cause it to float? we need more science), the option of sundering it to bring that flavor into play or leaving it to the end.

I agree that egg whites make for amazing cocktails but again they are fully intergrated into the finished product. Maybe I am short-sighted and would like to see more people making the Classic Cocktails Cosistantly Correct first before adding this wacked out style. Then again when the shoe with the little zipper for your lunch money came out I had a pair ( I had to take my shoes off in line everyday before I stopped using the pocket)

Perhaps we should do a hands on  molecular mixology event much like the one I went to in SF. I have Bridgeport Brewing chomping at the bit to host an event at their place. We do a beer tour and tasting then play with foam, dry ice, "Xanthan Gums and the like" for a bit.

I'm not a fan of MM, as many know, but hell, I even eschew most garnishes to a fault.  It's not even that I see it as a trend, but I firmly believe in a well-integrated cocktail, & the notion of layers/foams/jelly balls simply strikes me as counter-intuitive in building a drink.

That said, I am & have been interested in having the Guild host a seminar on just this topic.  I've already begun initial conversations w/ Plymouth to host one for us in the summertime as they did in SF.  & this is something I force myself to remember; just because something is not to my taste, it would be extremely arrogant to feel it is w/o value, or something that we can't learn from w/ experimentation. 

& I never did a cardamom-sage-balsamic foam, Jeff; whoever told you that was mistaking me for somebody else.

I talked to someone who has this little gadget, and she told me a few interesting things about it.

1) While it is supposed to be used for making "caviar", the size of the pearls can be adjusted on the machine

2) the sodium alginate bath these pearls are released into must be changed frequently, otherwise, the pearls develop a pronounced salty flavor

3) the machine comes with a warning label attached. she couldn't remember what specifically it said, but she told me that it basically warns you not to consume too may of the pearls.

She told me that it was a fun toy, but little use in her bar.