Kachabo Gums

Due to guar gum’s excellent cold and hot water solubility, if can be very effectively used in instant products like soup and sauce mixes, instant drinks and desserts.

Guar gum is also used in various restructured or fabricated foods for better water retention and paste workability and integrity before the final structuring of the fabricated food. Guar gum is also used as an additive in food extrusion applications due to its excellent water holding and friction reducing capabilities.

Guar gum’s capabilities to retain moisture and prevent sugar recrystallisation are taken advantage of in icings, glazes, frozen whipped toppings and breading.

Guar gum is also used in the preparation of noodles and pasta products in pickles and relishes and in canned sea foods,

Fish feed formulations incorporate guar gum in the dry - mix which aids in the making of on excellent homogeneous fish feed paste when reconstituted with water and fresh minced fish. Guar gum is also used as a binder in feed pellets.


Guar gum, besides its major function of water retention viscosifying and thickening is also finding increased use in foods as :

• A source of natural water-soluble fiber.
• To improve mouthfeel and texture in low fat/no fat foods, especially in combination with certain starches and other hydrocolloids like micro-crystalline cellulose.
• In slimming aids and dietetic foods.
• In products requiring “all natural” labeling.
• As a binder, firm former and protective colloid.
• As a stabilizer in sour dairy products.

In pharmaceuticals, guar gum finds use in :

• Tablets, as a binding and disintegrating agent.
• As a controlled release agent in drug formulations.
• As a slimming and appetite control agent.
• Diabetic formulations for controlling blood sugar level.
• Cholesterol reducing formulations.
• Antacids.
• Suspensions and syrups.
• Laxative formulations.
• Tooth pastes.

Agronomy & Manufacture

Guar Gum is derived from the seeds of the Guar plant “Cyamopsis tetragonalobus”. It is an annual plant, about 4 feet high, vertically stalked, with large leaves and clusters of bean-like pods. Each pod is about 5-8 CMS long and has on an average 6-9 small, grayish-white pea shaped seeds. Guar is a hardy, drought resistant bush, which grows well in the semi arid areas of west and north-west India and parts of Pakistan. Guar grows best in sandy soils, If needs moderate, intermittent rainfall with lots of sunshine. Too much precipitation can cause the plant to become more “ leafy” thereby reducing the number of pods and/or the number of seeds per pod, which affects the size, and yield of seeds. The crop is sown after the first rains in July and harvested in late October. The Pods are then sun dried, manually separated from the seeds and the seeds are supplied to the industry for processing. Tender green Guar pods are also consumed as a vegetable and cattle-feed in India.

The Guar seeds are dicotyledonous having a diameter of about 2.0-3.0 mm. The seeds make-up about 60 % -70 % of the pod weight. The germ is completely enveloped by the 2 halves of the endosperm, and if is the endosperm that is the source of the gum. The tough seed skin or husk is of a fibrous nature, composed of compressed thin layers of cellulosic material.

The gum is commercially extracted from the seeds essentially by a mechanical process of roasting, differential attrition, sieving and polishing.The seeds are broken and the germ is separated from the endosperm . 2 halves of the endosperm are obtained from each seed and are known as Undehusked Guar Splits. When the fine layer of fibrous material, which forms the husk, is removed and separated from the endosperm hales by polishing, Refined Guar Splits are obtained. The husk and germ are rich in protein and form a valuable cattle-feed. The larger germ particles have a high content of oil and albuminoids (o&a) – about 55% The smaller germ particles have an o & a content of about 40% and the husk about 25% o & a. Various standardized blends of these “Guar meals” can be made to achieve standard o &a contents. Guar meal may also be toasted to reduce odour and remove trypsin inhibitors. This is known as toasted Guar meal and is sold in the international markets. This product is usually standardized of 45% o&a content.

The refined Guar splits are then treated and finished into powders by a variety of routes and processing techniques depending upon the end product desired. High purity Guar gums like Guar gum for foods. Feeds and pharmaceutical applications can be produced in many different viscosities hydration to suit specific applications. Various modified/derivatised Guar gums such as hydrolyzed, hydroxyalkyl, carboxyalkyl, oxidised, sulphated, borated, cationic and various combination of these are commercially useful for a number of industry applications.

Chemistry & Structure

Guar gum Guar Gum is a plant seeds hydrocolloid a cold and hot water soluble galactomannan polysaccharide. Chemically, Guar gum is composed of beta 1,4 linked linear mannose backbone chain with single galactose side unit on approximately every other mannose unit, in a 1,6 alpha linkage.

The molecular structure reveals that it is a rigid rod-like polymer due to the beta linkage between the monomer units. The mannose to galactose ratio has been estimated at 1,8:1 to 2:1.

Recent studies indicate that the galactose side units may not follow a regular spacing pattern, but in fact, may appear in “cluster” and on either side of the mannose backbone.

Guar gum brings about stabilization, often in combination with other hydrocolloids, by modifying and controlling the behavior of water in a food or feed. Guar gum may act as the primary or supporting stabilizer ingredient.

in various frozen dairy and non-dairy products like ice-creams, ice-milk, ice candies, sherbets, milk shakes etc. , guar gum, either alone or in combination with other hydrocolloids like carragenan and locust bean gum is used to prevent the formation of ice crystals during freeze- thaw cycles, to impart a smooth and creamier texture to the product, to increase overrun and improve chewiness. Guar gum prevents quick meltdown and increases shelf-life.

in cottage cheese dressings. Guar gum promotes curd integrity by lubricity and binds the free water to yield a homogeneous stable product. In soft cheese products processed cheese spreads and dips the use of guar gum helps eliminate syneresis and improve texture and flavour due to better control of moisture and fat/oil migration. Guar gum also increases yield, aids drainage and imports a soft, compact and tender texture to recovered curd.

in various baked goods, the use of guar gum promotes a dough having excellent firm properties particularly in low gluten flour baked goods like rolls and breads with guar gum have on improved shelf life due to better moisture retention, softer textures and higher loaf volume on baking. Cake and biscuit doughs benefit by incorporating guar gum leading to better softness, better mould release and less crumbling during slicing in dry cake-mixes, guar gum offers several advantages – if aids one step mixing , gives shorter batter mix time, yields improved internal structure, prolongs shelf-life, improves application of icings and frostings and permits freezing of the cake.

the use of guar gum in juices nectars and syrups helps in the homogenous dispersion of pulp during filling and storage guar gum also leads to improved mouthfeel in these products. In fruit based beverages, guar gum helps in solids suspension and can be effectively combined with emulsifiers to prevent separation of flavour oils in the container.

in canned foods and canned pet-foods, guar gum is widely used as a viscosifier, processing aid and protective colloid. Guar gum offers the advantages of less wastage due to splattering during the working process, easier pumping of finished product to filling equipment less splashing and therefore more accurate control during can filling and a homogenous dispersion of solids in the liquid phase throughout the filling process. The finished goods augmented with guar gum exhibit good storage stability as there is no migration of fat, and the water and solids are maintained in a goods emulsion state. In conned pet-foods removal of the product form the can is also easier due to the friction reducing properties that guar gum imports. A partial replacement of starch and flour with guar gum in conned foods helps to reduce sterilization and cooling time since if acts as a protective colloid to reduce starch retrogradation.

Guar gum is used as an effective viscosifier in soups, sauces and gravies, either alone or in combination with xanthan gum and is complimentary to the use of starches. Guar gum helps provide a uniform viscosity to the product over a wide temperature range and imparts goods cling to sauces and graves.

in pourable salad dressings, guar gum is often used with xanthan gum and propylene glycol alginate. Guar gum helps to enhance the mouthfeel, gives controlled pourability, suspension of solids and improved cling.