Vegetable gum

Vegetable gums are polysaccharides of natural origin that are able to greatly increase the viscosity of a solution even at low concentrations. In the food industry , they are used as thickeners , gelling agents and stabilizers .

Some examples of vegetable gums are:

• Agar
• Alginic acid
• Alginate
• Carrageenan , gelling agent made from red algae , (E407)
• Chicle , a former ingredient in chewing gum
• Dammar
• Marshmallow extracts
• Gellan (E 418)
• Guar gum (guar gum, E 412)
• Gum arabic (E 414)
• Gum made from plantain husks
• Gum made from spruce sap , a Native American chewing gum
• Locust bean gum (E 410)
• Karaya (E 416)
• Konjac flour (E 425), from the konjac root won
• Mastic , a chewing gum from ancient Greece
• Tara gum (E 417)
• Tragacanth (E 413) from Astragalus (scientific name)
• Xanthan gum (E 415, produced by bacterial fermentation )