Guar gum substitute targets specific applications

Responding to what the company says is the limited availability and escalating price of guar gum, Spanish functional ingredients company Premium Ingredients has launched substitutes specifically designed for fruit beverage, mayonnaise and ketchup applications.

The company said that its approach to the problem was very different to that of other ingredients manufacturers, and that it acknowledged that there was no ‘one size fits all’ solution.

This led to Premium Ingredients’ R&D team starting to develop guar gum substitutes application by application, always having in mind the specific customer requirements for each application.

According to the company, a particularly demanding application is fruit beverages. For example, the required viscosity depends on customer and region and needs flexible stabiliser systems which work perfectly at different pH levels (normally a low pH environment).

Another requirement, said the company, is that the incorporation of the stabiliser does not result in too much foaming during processing to avoid air bubbles in the juice.

With these factors in mind, Premium Ingredients has launched two new products - Premigum XPJ-12008 and Premigum XPJ-12017.

Another application area of great interest for the substitution of guar gum is said to be mayonnaise. The challenge for this application, said the company, is having stabiliser solutions that work in cold as well as in hot processing and are suitable for egg and non-egg formulas. The oil content and the required texture are also very important criteria for the selection of the right stabiliser system.

For this application, Premium Ingredients has launched Premigum XCS-12030 and Premigum XCS-12035 to complement its current range of non-guar based stabiliser systems for mayonnaise. They are said to provide a creamy and short texture very similar to guar gum.

Two specific non-guar solutions for ketchup have also been created. Premigum XCS-12041 and Premigum XCS-12042 are based on CMC with a minority of tara and xanthan gum.

These two stabilisers for ketchup are claimed to result in a smooth texture and clean mouthfeel without being too sticky or doughy.