Knowde Enhanced TDS
Identification & Functionality
- Ingredient Name
- Food Ingredients Functions
- Ingredients
- Locust Bean Gum
- Food Additive Number
- E 410, INS 410
- Technologies
- Product Families
- Sources
Carob— or Locust Bean Gum— is processed from the seeds of the
leguminous tree known as Ceratonia Siliqua, family Leguminosae.
This tree is widely cultivated in the Mediterranean area and, to a
smaller extent, in California. The seeds are dark, chocolate-covered
pods that are 10-20 cm. long. The seed or kernel is composed
of the outer husk (30-33%), the germ (23-25%), and the endosperm
(42-46%). The powdered endosperm is the commercial Locust
Bean Gum. The trees are harvested in late fall.
Processing of the gum involves dehusking the tough seed coat
and separating the endosperm from the yellow germ. The seeds
are conditioned and the dehusked and degerminated by various
mechanical rolling and milling operations. Efficient removal of
the husk eliminates brown specks. The pure endosperm is then
ground into fine flour.
Features & Benefits
- Labeling Claims
- Food Ingredients Features
- Product Properties
- Physical
Locust Bean Gum is almost odorless and has a bland taste. Its
color is off-white to very light tan. The highest grades have no visible
brown husk specks. Mesh sizes are readily available from 100
to 200. The highest grades have the minimum of impurities and
color and also have the highest viscosity.- Solubility
Locust Bean Gum is incompletely soluble in cold water, and must
be heated for maximum solubility. The highest viscosity is obtained
by dispersing the gum into 95° Celsius water and then cooling.
This method minimizes the slight cloudiness due to the insoluble
protein and cellulose impurities. Dried films of the gum sol are
tough and pliable. The gum is insoluble in most organic solvents.- Viscosity
A 1% sol of a high quality gum develops a viscosity in the 3000-3500
centipoise ranges, when measured with a Brookfield viscometer at
20 rpm. At 2-3% gum concentration, a viscous, non-flowing paste
having no gelling tendencies is formed. Locust Bean Gum sols are
pseudo-plastic.- Chemical Characteristics
Locust Bean Gum, like Guar Gum, is a polysaccharide consisting of
a stright chain of D-mannopyranose unites joined by b_x001d_1à4) linkages
with a side-branching unit of a single D-galactopyranose unit joined
to every fourth mannose unit by a-(1à6) linkages. Guarm Gum has a
single galactose side-branch every other mannose unity. The molecular
weight of Locust Bean Gum is 330,000 +10%. An average-quality
Locust Bean Gum contains about 78% galactomannan, 12% water, 6%
protein, 3% acid insoluble residue or crude fiber, 0.8% ash, 1% fat, a
trace of heavy metals, zero arsenic, and zero lead.pH
Since Locust Bean Gum is a nonionic, neutral polysaccharide, its
viscosity is little affected over a pH range of 3 to 11. A 1% sol has a pH
range of 5.0 to 6.5.
Applications & Uses
- Markets
- Food & Nutrition Applications
- Qualities
- Water-Binding
- Thickening Agent
- Stabilizer
- Heat-Shock Resistance
- Uses
- Food
- Paper
- Textiles
- Tobacco
Food
The stabilizing and water-binding characteristics of Locust Bean Gum
give excellent heat-shock resistance and slow, creamy meltdown with
no masking of flavor to ice cream products as well as inhibiting the
formation of ice crystals. Lactic acid or calcium salts do not significantly
affect the gum. In soft cheese manufacturing, Locust Bean speeds
coagulation increases the yield of curd solids by 10% and facilitates the
separation and remove of the curd. The finished homogeneous cheese
has excellent body and structure. Cheese spreads made with a high
water content by mixing 1-2% gum are more easily refined and have a
fine texture, good mouth feel and spread easily.
Other Foods
Baking flours vary in gluten content and water-holding properties.
Locust Bean, with its good water-binding characteristic, yields drier,
more resilient products that have better texture and more softness.
When used with cake and biscuit dough, Locust Bean gives a higher
yield with a considerable reduction in the amount of eggs necessary.
Also, the cakes are softer, have a longer shelf life, firmer texture, can
be easily removed from the pans and can be cut or sliced more easily.
About 1-2% Locust Bean Gum is used in fruit pie fillings to yield a
clearer, more fruit-like filling, which is more palatable and does not
mask the flavor. Locust Bean Gum, in combination with other
hydrocolloids, stabilizes a variety of prepared foods as instant dry
sauces and soups, frozen concentrated soups and frozen butter and
cheese sauces for vegetable and fish dishes. This gum also stabilizes
and thickens mayonnaise, tomato catsup, and natural as well as
imitation whipped cream.Paper Industry
As a wet-end additive in papermaking, Locust Bean Gum finds one of
its most important uses. It results in an overall improved sheet with
greater strength and improved machine speed. Guar Gum is used
more extensively, but many mills still use Locust Bean Gum although it
is more expensive.
Textile Industry
Locust Bean Gum derivatives are widely used as print-paste
thickeners. These derivatives are also used in roller and screenprinting
as well as finishing agents. Their pastes are homogenous,
transparent, free flowing and have high stability. They are easily
washed off the printed cloth to impart a soft and smooth touch.
Locust Bean pastes gives purity and uniformity of shades, sharp
outlines, and deeper penetration of dyes. They are compatible with
most other thickeners, and improve the homogeneity and flow
peroperties of the paste. Locust Bean Gum derivatives, used as
finishing agents, impart body and smooth touch, attractive
appearance, and bright colors. The fabric remains clean without
dusting of the weighing material, because both loading and weighing
materials are firmly held to the fabric by the thin, transparent gum film.
Tobacco Industry
Locust Bean Gum, mixed and kneaded with pure fragmented tobacco
fines, forms a sheet having flexibility and strength characteristics
similar to whole tobacco leaf. Locust Bean Gum is used in making slow
combustion cigarette paper.
Technical Details & Test Data
- Compatibility
Locust Bean Gum is compatible with other hydrocolloids as well as
carbohydrates and proteins. Neutral salts such as sodium chloride
have little influence on the viscosity of the sol. Locust Bean Gum,
like other hydrocolloids, may be precipitated from aqueous sols by
some electrolytes, particularly polyvalent ones such as lead acetate,
phosphotungstic acid, and tannic acid. Locust Bean Gum sols are
gelled by the addition of small amounts of borax and a pH above 7.5.
A cohesive structural gel that is transparent is formed. This gel will
note adhere to glass and has no syneresis. The gel is reversible by
decreasing the pH below 7 or by heating.- Preservatives
Bacterial attack, common to all plant hydrocolloids, may be controlled
by about 0.1% of benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, sodium propionate
or citric acid, or a mixture of 0.15% methyl and 0.02% propyl
prahydroxybenzoate