2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
When we buy ice cream to feel cool on hot summer days, we rarely look at its label. Whoever did it, however, saw what was written on it E412. This addition may also be marked as rubber guar (Guar gum). It slows down the crystallization of ice and is therefore used in the making of ice cream, as well as in dessert creams.
Those who like to read the labels of the goods have seen it in the inscriptions on meat, dairy products, cheese, jellies, jams and toppings. It is used as stabilizer in these foods. It is also present in bakery products. In them is a flour improver. In sauces, ketchup and spices are added to give them a firm consistency.
The additive E412 It is also used in some salads, juices, dry soups and canned fish, and is usually combined with other ingredients that make the structure of the products suitable for the commercial network. Usually the different ingredients interact, each enhancing the action of the other. What is guar gum in practice and how is it obtained? Is it harmful? for the body?
What raw material is guar gum used to make?
The E412 supplement is obtained after the extraction of legume seeds. The raw material for the production of guar gum is an angiosperm plant with the Latin name Cyamopsis tetragonobola of the genus Cyamopsis of the family Fabaceae. Its popular name is guar or bean guar. This is a hardy and drought-resistant legume.
The plant grows upright, reaching a maximum height of 2-3 meters. There is one main single stem with a fine branch on it. Guar roots can have access to soil moisture at low depths and its root system grows close to nitrogen-related bacteria in the soil.
Photo: RikkyLohia / pixabay.com
Its stem and leaves are hairy, depending on the variety. The leaves are fine and have an elongated oval shape, 5 to 10 centimeters long. The plant blooms with white to bluish flowers. Its pods are flat and thin and contain from 5 to 12 small oval seeds up to 5 millimeters long. Mature seeds are white or gray in color, but if there is excess moisture they can turn black and no longer germinate.
The most valuable thing in the plant are the seeds. They have a remarkable feature. Their nucleus consists of a germ rich in protein. They also contain large amounts of galactomannan. It is a polysaccharide containing polymers of mannose and galactose in a ratio of 2: 1. This gives it a high binding activity, which makes a viscous effect in liquids.
Guar is drought resistant and loves the sun, is prone to frost. It can survive low rainfall, but requires soil moisture before planting and during seed maturation. Frequent periods of drought can lead to delayed ripening. Excessive moisture during the early phase of flowering and after ripening leads to lower seed quality. Guar grows best in moderately alkaline soils, fertile and sandy, well drained.
Guar distribution
Guar is grown mainly in northwestern India and Pakistan. Fragmentary in parts of Texas in the United States, Australia and Africa. The most important area for guar is in Rajasthan, India. This country is also the main producer of grain, providing 80 percent of world production. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines also grow guar in the drier tropics and subtropics. In the United States, it was developed as an industrial crop for chewing gum during World War II.
Use of guar gum
Traditionally, the main use of guar is as a cover crop and as a shaded plant for ginger and turmeric. Its sweet and tender pods are consumed as a vegetable in northwestern and southern India. Eat for breakfast after drying and fried. Mature seeds are a good option for food shortages. Guar is also grown as a dry and fresh fodder crop.
In the rest of the world, outside the traditional places where guar grows, the seeds are most valued. They are an important source for the industrial plant resin galactomannan, which has the ability to thicken 5 to 8 times stronger than starch. It is therefore used as a thickener and stabilizer in salads, ice cream, yogurt, canned vegetables and bakery products and in the preparation of cheese as well as tobacco products.
Guar gum is used to strengthen the structure of food products.
It is also a filter in the mining industry. They put it as an additive in drilling fluids and in drilling works.
The by-product of guar gum extraction is an important source of animal feed, with a protein content of about 40 percent.
Guar seed extracts are being tested as a medicine for non-insulin dependent diabetes and for hypercholesterolemia. The leaves of the plant are eaten as a remedy for night blindness, while the pods are laxative.
Content of useful substances in guar
In 100 grams green guar pods contains 82 grams of water, 4 grams of protein, 0.2 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbohydrates, 2.5 grams of fiber, 1.5 grams of ash, 0.1 grams of calcium, 6 milligrams of iron, vitamins A, C, hydrocyanic acid.
Galactomannan resin in cold water forms a gel with extremely high viscosity in low concentrations. The viscosity generally depends on temperature and concentration. The maximum viscosity is achieved at 25-40 degrees.
Commercial rubber guar is 78-82 percent galactomannan with some proteins and other impurities of the endosperm. Guar gum has a safe status, adopted in 1974 by the Food Agency worldwide.
Getting guar gum
Guar gum is obtained from the seeds of the guar plant by dry grinding. This is followed by a multi-stage process of grinding, sieving, in which the cotyledons are removed and cleavages occur. Guar food gum is produced by grinding to a fine particle size in the seed. Most seeds are ground to produce guar gum in the country of manufacture.
Guar gum was purified by autoclaving the resin mixture in water to give 0.8 percent dispersion, followed by gradual addition of ethanol to a concentration of 40 percent and centrifugation several times to precipitate pure galactomannan.
The purified rubber can be chemically modified to adapt its gel-taking and water-containing characteristics to different applications of the additive.
Effects of guar gum on the human body
Guar gum has excellent biological activity and plays a role anticoagulant. The supplement has antitumor and antiviral activity and helps remove heavy metals from the body. Thanks to your excellent properties of E412 is added not only to basic food products, but also to more specific requirements such as those of dietary and baby food. The presence of guar makes any food useful.
There is no specific recommended dose of this substance when added to food. E412 does not belong to allergens and does not irritate the stomach and other mucous membranes in the body. Recommended as a supplement and stabilizer in the food industry.
It is believed that regular use of guar gum in food reduces appetite, lowers cholesterol and improves calcium absorption, helps excrete toxins from the intestines. It can also have a laxative effect. It is suitable for diet menus because it creates a feeling of satiety.
See also about xanthan gum and which are the most harmful E's.
