What is Guar Gum

Guar gum is a commonly used food ingredient extracted from guar beans. It is highly soluble in water and forms a strong gel in the presence of calcium. In the food industry it is used to bind water and improve the texture and stability of cheeses, yoghurts, sauces, and desserts, and also as a replacement for wheat flour in gluten free bakery applications.

Chemically, guar gum is a galactomannan polysaccharide – in other words, long chains of mannose molecules with side branches of galactose.

So, what is Depolymerised Guar Gum?

Our partners at Polygal AG have developed a clean process which they use to cut the mannose backbone of standard guar into shorter chains, a process called depolymerisation. As a result, some properties of the gum are changed and improved:

• Better cold-water solubility
• Not affected by ions
• Greater temperature and acid stability
• Better synergy with starches
• Does not jellify or become sticky, even at high concentrations
• More stable in high brix applications
• High water binding properties

Polygum 240 Series

 Derived from different grades of native guar, the gums can be specified in different particle sizes with narrow viscosity range specifications, making them suitable for many different applications in the food industry. In comparison with native guar, textures are smooth, and stringing is eliminated. It has a very neutral taste with none of the “beany” flavour that can sometimes be detected in native guar at high usage levels. It can also be used as a source of soluble dietary fibre. Unlike some other gums such as tara gum and locust bean gum, DP Guar is cold water soluble.

In cream cheese we can replace more expensive ingredients (such as Locust Bean Gum) up to 100% with improved mouthfeel, spreadability, and syneresis control.

In dairy desserts DP Guar gives a very creamy rather than slimy mouthfeel with improved flavour release and syneresis control.

In frozen desserts freeze-thaw stability is improved considerably.

For soft serve and dairy ice creams, dairy and plant-based whippings, overrun is improved and easily controlled. We can substitute locust bean gum (LBG) up to 100% with the same or improved perform

In fruit preparations we see smoother textures and cost improvements when substituting other gum blends. Water binding can be increased without affecting texture allowing the product to flow and pump more easily.

For sauces and mayonnaises, we can partly or fully replace xanthan gum and LBG at lower cost. DP Guar can also be used as a fat replacer in low fat applications.

With bakery and gluten free bakery applications, DP Guar helps to retain moisture and improve texture and mouthfeel.

In short, depolymerised guar gum has superior performance to standard guar gum, offering a cost-effective replacement to other gums that may be expensive or in short supply, such as tara gum or xanthan gum. Additionally, there ae no labelling differences compared to standard guar gum.

At Andina Ingham Texture Matters! We specialise in gums and stabilisers and have many years of experience helping our customers to develop new products and improve existing ranges and processes across the whole of the food and animal feed industries.

As a natural ingredients and guar gum supplier Andina Ingham has a number of solutions for your food production, including depolymerised guar gum for use in a wide variety of applications.

Call our experts now on 01732 453 333 to discuss your requirements or use the contact form.