What are Carrageenan Gum and Its Usefulness?

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.

About the carrageenan gum and its uses
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 is usually be used 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.
Carrageenan gum uses in human foods and drugs
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.

And maybe you also curious on how to use carrageenan gum since there are many ways to use carrageenan, either for human foods or pet foods as well as for other products like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and many more. You can found a carrageenan powder gum easily in local markets or stores and sometimes they are being sold in plastic bag or plastic packages from half pound to one pound bags and more. They can be mixed with both hot and cold water to be used for certain things including your personal products.
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.