What is carrageenan gum? The carrageenan gum is extracted from the red
seaweeds and the most common species being used are Chondrus crispus, Gigartina
stellata, Eucheuma spinosum, and Eucheuma cottonii. Moreover, carrageenan is
available in three forms which are the iota carrageenan, kappa carrageenan, and
lambda carrageenan. These three forms of carrageenan have their own roles as
thickening or gelling agents as well as binders and stabilizers for wide variety
of industry products. Let’s learn more about such amazing seaweed extract that
being used globally in various countries.
Just like we mentioned earlier, based on its gelling ability, carrageenan is classified into there different uses as follow:
- Lamba carrageenan
This is a type of carrageenan which is used as thickener rather than a jeller.
- Iota carrageenan
Iota carrageenan for beauty products like cosmetics and jelly soap. It has soft elastic gel form with the freeze-thaw capabilities.
- Kappa carrageenan
It is a type of carrageenan that produces a strong but brittle and firm gel.
Carrageenan usually cannot be digested by human intestinal enzymes and might be cannot being broken down by the good intestinal enzymes bacterial inside the human. And as for your information, carrageenan is also provides no nutrition unlike other seaweeds products.
The most common carrageenan gum uses in the market and industry is for thickening agent, stabilizer, and binder. It can be used as thickeners in certain human foods such as milks, ice cream, baby formula, cottage cheese, yogurts, soft drinks, sugars and syrups, soft jellies, whipping creams, hot cereal beverages, coffee, sauces, salad dressings, ham, fruit jellies, dried pasta products, fish products, salt substitutes, processed meats, beers, vegetarian hot dogs, fermented vegetables, frozen and liquid egg products, etc. Furthermore, aside human foods, it can also be used for manufacturer’s products like toothpaste, shampoo, soap, medicines, personal lubricants, and many more.
Carrageenan gum features which useful for human such as:
- It improves the thickening mouth feel in the milkshakes products
- It provides thick texture in the puddings
- It provides body and suspension to the instant drinks
- It helps to bind waters in the reformed meats
- It controls syneresis
- It help to prevent whey-off especially in the dairy manufacturer’s product
Is carrageenan gum safe to be used?
Of course it is safe since there are many industries already using the benefits of carrageenan gum product especially as thickening agents. There are many numerous researches and studies which have been conducted to check on the carrageenan and most of them conclude that using carrageenan is safe. Although the use needs to be limited especially when you consume foods with carrageenan as the extra ingredient because over consume will give you negative side effect.
Are there other alternatives which can be used to replace carrageenan gum?
There are no perfect alternatives or replacement of carrageenan because of its unique features and characteristics. To put it simply, there are no other ingredients as unique as carrageenan powder or gum. And with this information, you maybe understand that carrageenan is the most important ingredient in large number of industry products. The carrageenan which is taken from the red algae at coastal area is unique species that provide many beneficial for us.
What you need to do is just simply mix the
powder gum with hot or cold water and then blend them together until mixed
perfectly. You can use regular blinder in the highest speed to mix and blend
them. After that, you can store the carrageenan
gum in the refrigerator until the foams are gone and then use it according
to your necessaries.
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