Warp 9!

Warp 9 is not science-fiction. It's in fact a fun and wonderful cocktail that will give your guests something to talk about. It was dubbed Warp 9 by my good friend Andras, who was one of the first to try this concoction of mine. On a side note, for those of you who are are not geeks, Warp 9 is a Star Trek reference.


This recipe uses the technique of spherification. Without going into too much scientific details, what this is is the creation of a gelatinous membrane that encases a sphere of liquid. It's not difficult to do, but you need special ingredients not readily available in your neighbourhood supermarket. The basic ingredients are sodium alginate and calcium salt. You can order them from DCDuby, which is located in British Columbia. You will also need a pipette or a syringe and pinch dash smidgen measuring spoons.


Okay, now that you have everything you need we can start! Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup of sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, bring to a boil 1 part sugar and 1 part water, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes)
• 1/4 cup of Blue Curaçao
• 1 gram (2 dashes) of sodium alginate 
• 500 ml of water
• 5 grams (12 dashes) of calcium salt
• 1 bottle of your favourite sparkling wine 

Mix the sugar syrup and Blue Curaçao together with the sodium alginate. Mixing the alginate in a bit of sugar first will prevent it from clumping, which it tends to do.  Now, in a separate bowl, mix the water with the calcium salt until it dissolves. You now have 2 liquides, one with the alginate and the other with the calcium.

Using the pipette or syringe, carefully dispense the alginate mixture drop by drop into the calcium bath. Wait roughly one minute, scoop out the spheres using a small sifter and rinse them in cold water. Repeat process.

Once finished, divide the spheres among 6 to 8 champagne glasses. Top off with the sparkling wine and serve immediately.

What's great about this recipe is that you can create spheres using different kinds of liquid. You have to be careful, however, because if you're liquid is too acidic (meaning with a ph lower than 4) the alginate will not dissolve properly. In this case, you can always add some sodium citrate to buffer up the pH, however this can also alter the taste of you mixture.

So if you have the patience and you want to impress your guests with something different, try Warp 9 and bring a smile to their faces!

See how happy everyone is!