Soy lecithin

Lécithine de soja

What it is

Théodore Gobley isolated it from egg yolk in the 1840s and named it after lekithos, the Greek for yolk; the soy version arrived a century later as a by-product of degumming crude soybean oil. It is the same class of molecule that builds every cell membrane in your body, sold by the kilo.

In the kitchen

For an air, whisk 0.5 % into the liquid, then run a hand blender at the surface with the blade half out of the water so it drags air in — plunged deep it only mixes. Let the foam stand a minute before you lift it: the wet bubbles drain away and what is left holds on the plate for several minutes.

Goes with

Parmesan Olive oil Lemon Soy sauce Ginger Carrot Beetroot

Same species

Chunjang Dark soy sauce Doenjang Douchi Edamame Fermented bean curd

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