What are the functional characteristics of various edible gums and their advantages and disadvantage

Edible gum is usually referred to as dissolved in water, and can be fully hydrated under certain conditions to form sticky, smooth or jelly liquid macromolecular substances. In processed foods, it can provide thickening, viscosity increasing, adhesion, gel forming ability, hardness, brittleness, tightness, stabilizing milk and suspension body, and so on, so that food can obtain various shapes and hard, soft, brittle, sticky, thick and other tastes. Therefore, it is often called food thickener, tackifier, gelling agent, stabilizer, suspending agent, food glue, colloid, etc.

Action mechanism: the ability to change the rheology of food system, that is, flow characteristic viscosity and mechanical solid characteristic texture. Studies have confirmed that changes in the texture or viscosity of the food system help to change its sensory properties. Generally speaking, thickeners are easy to form network structure or colloids with more hydrophilic groups in solution. Colloids are heterogeneous groups of long-chain polymers (polysaccharides and proteins), so they can improve the viscosity and texture of food.