Alginate is a natural and skin-safe mold making material that can be
easily used to capture detailed molds from the live human body.
However, the use of alginate is not restricted to life casting alone.
EnvironMolds offers a food grade sodium alginate that is actually a
popular food additive. It does not have a discernible flavor and is
entirely safe as well. The powder is regularly used to thicken and
emulsify sauces, syrups, jams, salads and pie fillings. It also
serves to stabilize yoghurt, ice cream, cheese and other products. It
can even bind meat, improve the texture of noodles and give the
desired crumb texture in baked goods.
Apart from this, sodium alginate displays some unique properties that
enable chefs to display some extraordinary modernist feats in the
kitchen.
For instance, sodium alginate and calcium salts can be used to shape
a liquid into spheres. The gelling can make both small and large
spheres. All of them will contain liquid that literally bursts in the
mouth. The taste will not be altered either.
This spherification procedure can even be reversed to produce thicker
spheres that can last longer. In fact, sodium alginate can be used to
make gastronomic spheres from literally any edible liquid.
You can find varied kinds of alginate, including the food grade ones
on www.artmolds.com. If you are
interesting in replicating living figures, the website even offers
instructional books, videos and live workshops on how to make
molds for body casting.