I came to this forum hoping that the expertise and knowledge of Chefs could guide me to the solution I need.
Long story short I'm a dog trainer that wants to create my own reward treats by binding several pieces of kibble together that will set and dry to form a "kibble cluster" for want of a better term that will be around the size of three quarters of a golf ball.
With the knowledge of food that exists here can anybody give me any advice on what might work to achieve this?
Ideally I want to be able to simply dip the kibble in the ingredient and leave them to harden and set ready for use or storage.
This has the potential to really change how things are done so any ideas would be very well received.
Off the top of my head I'd say you need to mix the stuff up with a strong, stable gel. My guess is that agar will work best, but there's really no way to know in advance of trying it.
What you do is, you buy some agar (or "agar agar"), which is inexpensive powder. Make up a 1% solution with cool tap water (if local water is ultra-hard cut in 50% distilled). Bring to a boil, simmer fast a few minutes while whisking pretty hard. It should be completely dissolved.
Now when that gets to warm room temperature, stir it with a whole bunch of kibble. I suspect it'll need do be thoroughly damp but not wet. Form in balls on a tray and shove into the fridge.
Once it sets, it's not coming unset unless you try very, very hard -- I think agar doesn't re-melt until about 180F.
Anyway, that's my best guess for something that more or less fits your description.
Off the top of my head I'd say you need to mix the stuff up with a strong, stable gel. My guess is that agar will work best, but there's really no way to know in advance of trying it.
What you do is, you buy some agar (or "agar agar"), which is inexpensive powder. Make up a 1% solution with cool tap water (if local water is ultra-hard cut in 50% distilled). Bring to a boil, simmer fast a few minutes while whisking pretty hard. It should be completely dissolved.
Now when that gets to warm room temperature, stir it with a whole bunch of kibble. I suspect it'll need do be thoroughly damp but not wet. Form in balls on a tray and shove into the fridge.
Once it sets, it's not coming unset unless you try very, very hard -- I think agar doesn't re-melt until about 180F.
Anyway, that's my best guess for something that more or less fits your description.
Thank you so much for having a crack at this. I'll get hold of some and give it a try. If it works it's going to make a big difference to how things work.
I'll report back my results.
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