Even though agar (or agar agar) is used in various applications in other cuisines, it’s used almost exclusively in Thailand to make cold gelatinous dessert, Wun (วุ้น). There are various flavors and flavor combinations of Wun; all of them are different variations of the same basic dessert.

Telephone brand, which is the most often-used brand in Thailand, is the easiest to use, the most reliable, and — thankfully — the most widely available brand overseas. All the recipes on my blog that call for gelatin powder have been tested with Telephone agar powder. You can use different types or brands of agar, but they may yield different results.

Unlike gelatin powder which can be activated by liquid that is just hot enough to dissolve agar powder. Agar is activated only when it is boiled along with the liquid. So when my recipe instructs you to boil agar with liquid, make sure you bring the mixture to a full boil even though it may seem to you that the powder has already fully dissolved prior to the boiling. Failure to properly activate agar will surely lead to setting failure.