Nutrient Agar Powder 500 Grams by Evviva Sciences, Makes 900 to 1000 Agar Petri Dishes, Can Be Used at Home, in The Classroom & for Science Fair Projects, with Experiment Ebook

I thought this nutrient agar powder would allow for some interesting at-home experiments, especially since there was mention of getting access to an e-book with different experiments in it. ___*NOT FOR EATING*_____________________ First off, I wasn’t sure if this product might be usable in cooking. I saw nothing warning against human consumption, but decided to write to the company to ask. The response was quick and I was informed that for this particular product, agar is only ONE INGREDIENT: there are additional ingredients in the powder that are specifically there to help grow bacteria. Since the whole point of this “nutrient agar powder” is to promote bacterial growth (something we are always trying to avoid in our food), I think it’s worth stressing that it should NOT BE USED FOR COOKING. You’ll want to find just “agar powder” or “agar agar” if you’re looking to make food with it. I wasn’t told what the other ingredients are in this product but separate research indicates that beef extract is a common one, so it is even more important to make sure you get the right kind if you are looking for a vegan alternative to gelatin. _________________________________________ The jar the powder comes in appears not to have the tightest seal: I found powder around the plastic ring holding the lid in place. I imagine this is more of an issue when it’s in transit than it will be sitting on a shelf. The instructions indicated that a 1-liter mixture would fill 40 petri dishes. I don’t have nearly that many so I divided the mixture by 4 for my first try. Unfortunately I misunderstood the instructions: I got it in my head that the water should be boiling when you add the agar. That was a disaster; the agar clumped instantly and it was impossible to smooth it out. I tried pouring some of it into a couple of petri dishes but once it set, it was full of bubbles and just looked really wrong. I got rid of that batch and tried again. This time I halved the recipe instead of quartering it. I also mixed the agar before boiling the water, and had much better results. This time the mixture was nice and smooth, and it was easy to pour into each petri dish. I must have overpoured because I managed to use it all up in only 10 dishes. The e-book is well written, though it must have been written for a different kit since it gave instructions for using agar plates that had already been prepared (which probably would have made the whole thing a lot simpler for us). It is a nice little document with interesting information about microorganisms and fungi, the way we use bacteria and fungi in modern science and medicine, and the general staggering numbers of bacteria that surround us in daily life. It gives several suggestions for things you can test, and even comparisons you can make and control for (example: is soap and water more effective than hand sanitizer?). It could make a great basis for an interesting school science project. Within 48 hours I had growth on my dishes. Unfortunately I also had growth on my control dish, but I was hardly working in lab conditions and it was my first try so there were bound to be some errors on my part. I was just pleased to see anything growing at all since the best I could do was put them in a closet where they wouldn’t get too much sunlight, or get jostled around. I had to skip the autoclave step as well since I obviously don’t have one laying around in my apartment. When I checked them again the following day they had all progressed very well. The sample I’d taken from my refrigerator’s door handle was especially humbling. This is probably more suitable for people who actually know what they’re doing but it made for a fun, if disturbingly enlightening, home experiment.

The plastic jar of agar powder came with a plastic seal around lid, which I appreciate. We currently have a couple of uses for laboratory agar. First, our daughter needed a couple dishes for some bacteria experiments. Also, we are planning to try our hand mycology cultures for edible mushroom growing. Initially we decided to make only 10 agar dishes. The instructions on the jar label are for creation of 40 agar dishes so we had to reduce the recipe. The mix we the used was 250ml of distilled water to 5.75g of powdered agar. This seemed to work pretty well, filling ten of our 90mm x 15mm petri dishes to cover the bottoms (by a couple mm. Sorry, I didn’t measure). I downloaded the experiment book from the URL that came with the agar and it is A LOT more comprehensive than I was expecting. The full color eBook has clear, vivid photographs and covers everything from safety to methodology. It’s like a full mini-course on household bacteria! Very impressive! We're assigning it to our daughter. All-in-all, I found it effective for our purposes and plan to use it more going forward.

I have a few ideas to use this for, if it will work long term or not has yet to be determined . the general idea is that I can propagate plant cultures in a controlled environment while using this as a neutral nutrient base. I have not dialed in the proper ratios of nutrients to add just yet. for a proof of concept, the big box store that sells pet supplies ( not naming them) sells many varieties of cell culture plants for the aquarium hobby. so far I have had okay results, but have not dialed in the correct ratios yet. This agar does looks promising though. having it stored in a dry powder form really makes storing a large amount easy

In my career as a biologist, I made thousands of agar Petri dishes, using various types of agar and now that my grandkids are interested in science I set up a laboratory in my basement and we do experiments. My granddaughter is very interested in learning about bacteria and GERMS as she refers to them. I also have a small autoclave so can make sure my agar is sterile going into sterile Petri dishes. Microorganisms need food and this is good food for them as the main ingredients in most nutrient agar are peptone, beef extract, and agar. I use distilled water which has zero contaminants or minerals when mixing agars. This agar does great as our Petri dishes had some very fine growth so I prepared some slides for the microscope. I will order this agar again and will look into buying blood agar plates already prepared.

If you propagate plants via tissue culture, you want to have a good Agar to use. For tissue culture, it needs to be 'nutrient' agar or you will need to get your own nutrient solution to add to the agar mixture. This Nutrient Agar Powder is super convenient for culture and so far works well in my jars. It has also not had any issues being mixed with growth regulators and preservation mixes like PPM, NAA or BAP. My plant cuttings are growing, so this is definitely a quality product. For mixing it, I have a magnetic stirring hot plate to guarantee that this won't clump and burn or have other issues. I noticed another reviewer was using this in food and I don't know if that is such a good idea. This doesn't say that it is for human consumption, so I would be very careful and contact the company before ingesting any lab product.