Ingredients:
800mL of water, 60g of vegetable glycerin, 30g of agar agar, pinch of spirulina powder
Equipment:
hot plate, non-stick pan, spatula and spoons, digital scale, measuring cups, baking tray, cooking thermometer
Instructions:
- Start with a clean workspace and containers. Gather all necessary equipment and ingredients.
- Measure out water and pour into pot. Don’t turn on the heat yet!
- Carefully sift agar agar powder into the water pot while using the spatula to stir slowly. Make sure to break up any chunks that may appear.
- Measure out glycerin and pour into pot. You can use a spoon to scrape it out, some of it might get stuck in its container. Stir to get all ingredients combined.
- Add spirulina powder until you get your desired color. You really can’t go wrong in this step but a little powder does go a long way in terms of coloring. Stir well to combine.
- Put pot on hot plate and turn on to the lowest heat setting. Basically, we cooked our bioplastic for about 25-30 minutes while slowly ramping up the heat while stirring slowly the whole time. We were really careful not to introduce too many bubbles into the plastic by making sure to remove the pot from the hot plate when it started boiling. This is the heating profile we used while cooking while using the spatula to stir slowly the whole time:
- 140 degrees F for 5 minutes
- 176 degrees F for 5 minutes
- 212 degrees F for 5 minutes
- 176 degrees F for 7 minutes
- After the bioplastic is cooked and reaches a syrup consistency, quickly pour it into the baking tray. Depending on how long you’ve cooked it, the bioplastic can solidify very quickly so work fast in tilting the sheet so that the liquid covers the whole area and is level.
- Set the tray in a well-ventilated area where it can dry undisturbed for at least 5 days. The material will change and shrink over time.
