General Overview of Food Hydrocolloids

Hydrocolloids are colloidal substances used in technical and regulated applications to thicken and to stabilize formulations. According to their botanical origin and their function in the plant organism, naturally occurring vegetable hydrocolloids can be divided into exudates (protective colloids being deposited on wounds): acacia gum/gum Arabic, tragacanth, karaya gum, ghatti gum; seed flours (reserve polysaccharides): guar gum, locust bean gum, tara gum, tamarind seed gum; and extracts from land plants and marine algae (scaffolding substances): pectins, agar, alginate, carrageenan, starches, cellulose, furcelleran, larch gum. This chapter presents an overview of globally used food hydrocolloids. It provides information on origin, manufacturing, structure, properties, and handling of individual substances. The chapter also describes the individual cellulose-based substances in more detail. Overview tables for selected cellulose derivatives are given in a separate section.