Agar Agar Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Agar Agar (Gelidiella acerosa) is not a land plant but a red seaweed of the Gelidiellaceae family, growing on rocks and dead coral in the intertidal zone of warm seas from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to the Pacific. Its tough, wiry, dark red to purple-brown fronds branch irregularly and rarely exceed 10 to 15 centimeters. When the dried seaweed is boiled and cooled, its cell-wall polysaccharides set into a firm, clear, heat-reversible gel; this is agar, the vegetable gelatin of Asian desserts and the standard culture medium of microbiology laboratories. We extract the dried powder.