how to make vegan stiff egg-whites

[jomo]

I wonder if anyone out there has any ideas of a vegan substitute for the stiff peaks of beaten eggwhites. Chocolate mousse would be a breeze then, and I feel like one could make fluffier cakes, etc.

I was thinking about what a foam is, and well, with eggwhites it's these long protein strands that get all tangled up by the whipping and form little air-bubble traps making a firm foamy stable texture.

any ideas out there?

I was thinking about the volcano experiment. you know, maybe you tried this as a kid, when you mix vinegar and soap with water+baking soda it makes a foamy mess, that's more or less persistent; the foaming being the co2 evolving baking soda+acid, and the soap, being the foaming agent.

what if you mixed like a soft gelatinous tapioca mush with lemon, and then added baking soda dissolved in water, and tweak it so it stays a bit sour ( ie experiment with the quantities so that there is a bit more acid after ti reacts with the baking soda) , couldn't you get something like egg whites? maybe one could mix that with fruity soy custard and actually get something resembling a mousse...

[fiamma]

Hi jomo,

I think it depends what you want to make. If you're thinking fruit mousse I'm not sure I can help you, but superb chocolate mousses can be made from tofu. You can also make excellent light cakes using a variety of methods (banana, tofu, applesauce, flax seeds as egg replacers), including apple cider vinegar, and IMHO they're even lighter than those made with eggs.

For your truly technical questions I'm sure some of the other forum boffins will be able to help, but I fear that Vegan Baked Alaska is a way away yet...