Ice cream, eight treasure porridge, jelly, chocolate, fudge, sauce beef, ham sausage, quick-frozen dumplings, quick-frozen tangyuan, instant noodles, fruit meat drinks, milk drinks, oyster sauce, jams, salad dressings, bread, cakes.....
Do you eat these foods?
They may contain the same food additive, called xanthan gum.
It is a secretion of bacteria, first discovered by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has now become one of the most widely used additives in the food industry.
【Good thickening effect】
In the food industry, all substances called "glue" are usually thickeners, and xanthan gum is certainly no exception, but its thickening effect is very strong.
0.1% xanthan gum can form a good thickening effect, while many other thickeners have no effect at this concentration at all.
At the same concentration, xanthan gum is 100 times viscosity than gelatin.
It can also be synergized with other substances such as locust bean gum, guar gum, konjac powder, etc., and the thickening characteristics are further strengthened.
In addition to its high viscosity, xanthan gum's stability to heat, pH, salinity and special fluid properties make it very widely used.
【Not afraid of heat】
Many thickeners will reduce or even completely fail at high temperatures, but the viscosity of xanthan gum has almost no change at 10-80 degrees, and the viscosity is repeatedly frozen and heated from -4 degrees to 93 degrees, and the viscosity is almost unaffected.
Therefore, it can be applied in products that need to be heated, typically such as fruit juice drinks, pulp drinks, milk drinks, plant protein drinks, etc.
The benefits of using xanthan gum in pulp drinks are most obvious, which can prolong the suspension time of the pulp.
Xanthan gum is used in latex beverages and plant protein drinks to avoid fat stratification and protein precipitation.
Many porridge shops will also add xanthan gum in order to save trouble, which can boil out thick porridge in a short time, of course, it is no problem to eat.
【Not afraid of acids and salts】
Under the action of acids and salts, the molecular structure of many thickeners will change and lose the thickening effect.
But xanthan gum is not afraid of these, even if the concentration of 10% brine (almost the salinity of raw soy sauce) can not help it.
For example, the traditional process of soy sauce and oyster sauce uses starch thickening, but starch is easy to precipitate and clump after storing for a period of time in a high-salt environment.
The use of xanthan gum can not only overcome these problems, but also improve the wall hanging and colorability of soy sauce and oyster sauce, and extend the shelf life.
In addition, xanthan gum is also widely used in jams, bean paste, salad dressings and other condiments, not only has a long shelf life, but also easy to apply, and the taste is more lubricated.
【Combination of dynamic and static】
Xanthan gum has a feature called "pseudoplasticity", that is, the viscosity is very large in the static state, but the viscosity decreases rapidly under the stirring or flowing state, and once the movement is stopped, the viscosity will be restored, which has its own wonderful use.
In the ice cream, ice cream to add xanthan gum, processing molding and canning process raw materials are low viscosity paste, a little cooling and standing viscosity will be restored, so that ice cream is not easy to form large ice crystals, the taste is naturally lubricated and delicate, and the product will not flow all over the hand after melting.
Similarly, the processing of products such as jelly, jam, canned, cream products, chocolate, fudge, toothpaste, etc. can also take advantage of this property.
【Stay Hydrated】
Xanthan gum has the ability to "lock in water", such as baked goods (such as bread, cake) added xanthan gum, can make the pores in the product even, elastic, help to maintain moisture and soft taste, prolong the storage period.
The addition of xanthan gum to quick-frozen dumplings, chaos and tangyuan helps to reduce water loss and cracking, can reduce rotten skin and soup mixture during cooking, and adding xanthan gum to the filling can bring a juicy taste.
Xanthan gum is used in meat products such as sauce and marinated meat, ham sausage, etc. by increasing moisture and improving the tenderness of the taste.
Xanthan gum can also be used in fruit and vegetable surface treatment to reduce water loss and oxidative browning.
Adding xanthan gum to noodles, ramen, and instant noodles can reduce the breakage during processing, and the noodles are more stiff to eat, the taste is smooth, and the adsorption of oil can be reduced when the instant noodles are fried.
In addition, it is also widely used in sunscreen, skin care, and water-retaining cosmetics.
In fact, there are many uses of xanthan gum, such as it is used as a "diet food".
Because it is water-soluble dietary fiber, it can provide a certain feeling of fullness, but because the body's digestive enzymes cannot destroy it, it does not provide energy.
In addition, it can be used in the "microencapsulation" technique and is an important component in the production of "extended-release drugs".
In short, it can play a role in the fields of daily chemicals, food, medicine, petroleum exploitation, textiles, ceramics and printing and dyeing.
I'm afraid that the scientists who discovered it at that time did not expect that the secretions of this bacterium were so magical!