{"id":437,"date":"2022-09-07T06:07:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=437"},"modified":"2022-10-31T13:26:19","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T19:26:19","slug":"guar-gum-instability-alternatives-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/437\/guar-gum-instability-alternatives-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Guar Gum: Instability & Alternatives, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gummybears\"Original article date: April 11, 2014 by Jill Frank<\/em>
\nUpdated Sept. 9, 2022 by Gavin Van De Walle<\/em><\/p>\n

Guar gum is an important ingredient used for many food and beverage product applications.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, price volatility and ingredient scarcity have become challenges for manufactures.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, alternatives like xanthan, locus bean, and tara gum offer similar properties with better cost and product stability, representing viable alternatives. You can read about these alternatives in Part 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article will discuss six more guar gum<\/a>\u00a0alternatives. But first, here\u2019s a refresher on guar gum.<\/p>\n

Guar gum applications and market challenges<\/h2>\n

Guar gum is derived from the seeds of the guar plant (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba<\/em>, Fabaceae). The seeds grow in clusters giving guar gum its common name, cluster bean.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fiber composed of a complex carbohydrate polymer of galactose and mannose, similar to locust bean gum, but with different proportions of these two sugars.<\/p>\n

Guar seed endosperm is a water-soluble gum, which is used as a stabilizer, emulsifier and thickener in various food products.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples of guar gum applications in various food categories:1<\/sup><\/p>\n