Egg white powder (albumin)

Blanc d’œuf en poudre

What it is

Before it is dried the white is desugared — yeast or an enzyme eats the small amount of glucose in it — because otherwise the powder browns and turns off on the shelf within weeks. The dried whites are then pasteurised in the sealed pack, held for days at around 54 °C, a treatment a liquid white would coagulate under.

In the kitchen

To reinforce a meringue, add 1 to 2 % of the sugar's weight straight to the dry sugar rather than reconstituting it: the foam stiffens and stops weeping without changing the recipe. To replace whites outright, count 1 level teaspoon of powder and 2 tablespoons of water per white, and let it sit ten minutes before whipping or it never fully hydrates.

Goes with

White sugar Icing sugar Lemon Vanilla Almond Cream of tartar Raspberry

Same species

Chicken tail (bonjiri) Bresse chicken Capon Chicken Rooster Cockscomb

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