How to Make an Edible Water Bottle

Want to avoid washing a reusable water bottle? Make an edible one! This easy spherification recipe shows you how to make a gel coating surrounding liquid water. Once you master the simple molecular gastronomy technique this tutorial teaches, you can use the process to make edible balls of other consumable liquids.

Edible Water Bottle Materials

Sodium alginate, a natural gelling powder derived from algae, is the key ingredient for this project. The sodium alginate gels or polymerizes when reacting with calcium (the resulting substance is a common alternative to gelatin, used in candies and other foods). This recipe suggests calcium lactate as the calcium source, but you could also use calcium gluconate or food-grade calcium chloride. The ingredients in this recipe are readily available online, but you can also find them in grocery stores that carry supplies for molecular gastronomy.

Materials and equipment:

• Water
• 1 gram sodium alginate
• 5 grams of calcium lactate
• Large bowl
• Smaller bowl
• Hand mixer
• Spoon with a rounded bottom (soup spoon or round measuring spoon works great)

The spoon size determines the size of your water bottle. Use a large spoon for big water blobs and a tiny spoon if you want little caviar-sized bubbles.

Make an Edible Water Bottle

1. Add one gram of sodium alginate to one cup of water in a small bowl.
2. Use a hand mixer to ensure the sodium alginate combines with the water. Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes to remove any air bubbles. The mixture will transform from a white liquid to a clear substance.
3. Stir five grams of calcium lactate into four cups of water in a large bowl. Mix well to dissolve the calcium lactate.
4. Use your rounded spoon to scoop up the sodium alginate solution.
5. Gently drop the sodium alginate solution into the bowl containing the calcium lactate solution. The mixture will immediately form a ball of water. You can drop more spoonfuls of sodium alginate solution into the calcium lactate bath, just be careful the water balls don't touch each other because they'll stick together. Let the water balls sit in the calcium lactate solution for three minutes. You can gently stir around the calcium lactate solution if you like. (Note: The wait time determines the polymer coating's thickness. Less time gives your balls a thinner coating and more produces a thicker one.)
6. Use a slotted spoon to gently remove each water ball. Place each ball in a bowl of water to stop any further reaction. Now you can remove the edible water bottles and drink them. Remember, the water is, of course, consumable but the bottle is edible too—it's an algae-based polymer!

Using Flavors and Liquids Other Than Water

You can color and flavor the edible coating and the liquid inside the "bottle," as you might imagine. Adding food coloring to the liquid is fun, as is using consumable flavored liquids. But, avoiding acidic drinks is best because these liquids affect the polymerization reaction.