Molecular Gastronomy: Part 2 – The Whipping Siphon

The culinary or whipping siphon is one of the key tools used by experimental chefs in molecular gastronomy and modernist cooking. It is a small, sealable container with a cap that can hold in fairly large amounts of pressure without leaking. In the cap are two valves: one to introduce gas into the inner chamber and another to release the pressurized contents when the desired result has been reached. Originally, the whipping siphon was used only to make whipped cream, but now it is regularly utilized to create other sweet, savory and specialty creams, foams, and infusions.

There are currently two main ways in which the power of the siphon is harnessed in the kitchen: 1. to expel the contents in a siphon through one of many specialized tips that are interchangeably screwed into a valve on the cap, and 2. to saturate the contents within a siphon and then remove them by expelling the gas first and then pouring the infused ingredients out once the cap has been removed.