Fat Duck chef proprietor Heston Blumenthal has pioneered a new approach to cooking by combining his passions for taste and for science, resulting in what is now known as 'molecular gastronomy'
Elga LabWater's Purelab Option is a familiar sight in research laboratories around the UK, but now it looks set to become equally familiar in the kitchen, if other restaurants follow the lead of the Michelin starred Fat Duck at Bray, Berkshire.
Chef proprietor Heston Blumenthal has pioneered a new approach to cooking by combining his passions for taste and for science, resulting in what is now known as 'molecular gastronomy'.
As a result, the Fat Duck has been able to challenge traditional methods of cooking and create a new generation of taste sensations with unique dishes such as egg and bacon ice-cream, salmon poached with liquorice, and caviar on white chocolate.
As part of this scientific approach, the Fat Duck installed an Elga LabWater purification system to assist with new recipe creation and provide the pure water needed to maintain the quality of ingredients when cooked.
Working on the theory that the calcium ions in hard water displaces magnesium in the chlorophyll of green vegetables, resulting in a loss of colour, Heston Blumenthal tried cooking them in deionised water.
His beans kept their colour and looked more appetising on the plate.
In addition he found that reducing the alkalinity of the water improved the texture of the vegetables and stopped them becoming mushy.
Bottled deionised water is very expensive and, before very long, the Fat Duck had a Purelab Option R7 which produces up to seven litres of pure water per hour from tap water at a fraction of the cost of bottled water.
The Purelab Option R7 delivers purified water of up to 15M-Ohm.cm resistivity - that's better than double-distilled water - and is typically used for applications like tissue and cell culture, spectrophotometry, electrophoresis and immuno-cytochemistry.
Cuisine and recipe creation can now be added to this list.
The treatment process consists of a series of easy-change plug-in purification cartridges, providing pre-treatment to remove colour and chlorine, primary deionisation by reverse osmosis, polishing by ion exchange and disinfection by ultraviolet photo-oxidation.
The purified water is delivered to a reservoir which is capable of storing up to 40 litres ready for use.
The water from the reservoir is continuously recirculated through the Option R7's treatment process to ensure that both microbiological and chemical purity are maintained.
Although the Option R7 was designed to blend in with laboratory furniture and equipment, its easy-to-clean, hygienic, white and blue cabinet looks at home in Heston Blumenthal's food preparation area.
But water quality isn't just about maintaining the colour and texture of vegetables.
The cutting edge of culinary experimentation is hydrocolloids or gels.
"Chefs are experimenting by combining a variety of foods and flavours in the form of gels to create unusual taste combinations and mouth feel," says Blumenthal.
"I've found that the higher the calcium content in water, the thicker the gel, and that by removing the right amount of ions you can create a gel that is solid when poured, but flows like water when tipped.
"As with all controlled experiments, you need a consistency of ingredients and that includes the water".
This view is certainly shared by Elga LabWater's traditional research laboratory customers.
But few of those researchers have come up with anything quite as revolutionary as the Fat Duck's Earl Grey tea, which is served to the customers in a glass that is hot on one side and cold on the other.
The hot and cold gel tea is poured separately into the glass with a divider down the middle.
The divider is then removed and the two gels stay separately in position - they keep their relative positions and temperatures but become liquid when the diner tips the glass.
