February 5, 2021 • 6 mins
This substance helps provide thick, smooth textures in homemade foods and industrial products alike. Learn about how xanthan gum is used and how it's made in this episode of BrainStuff.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Stuff Lauren vog obamb here. It's possible that you've never
heard of zanthing gum, but it's extremely probable that you've
eaten it before, maybe in a salad dressing, ice cream,
or a smoothie xanthing gum is a compound that stabilizes
(00:23):
and thickens foods so that they have the flavor and
mouth feel that you'd expect. Since it's discovery in the
nineteen sixties, zanthing gum has been an ingredient in a
variety of foods and beverages, including sauces, dairy products, baked goods, confections,
and low fat spreads. It helps suspend spices and salad dressings,
and even gives toothpaste to that smooth and consistent texture.
(00:46):
It's actually used in a number of industries, like to
help thicken drilling fluid in geotechnical engineering, and to bind
ingredients together in cosmetics. It's also a key ingredient in
gluten free foods of people with Celiac disease and gluten
sensitivities can experience painful stomach cramps and diarrhea if they
eat baked goods or other foods that contain flour. The
(01:09):
foods made without gluten rely on xanthing gum and other
ingredients to thicken them up and bind moisture inside, so
that gluten free breads and pastries can have the same
texture and flexibility of foods that contain gluten. We spoke
with Shaan Matievich, chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of
Virginia and Norfolk. He explained that it's just as useful
(01:32):
in household kitchens as commercial ones because it's colorless and flavorless.
Unlike other thickening agents like cornstarch or flour, xanthingum doesn't
block the flavor of the food it's mixed with, he said.
I talk about it with my students. It's something I've
been using for a long time. It's a really cool
way to manipulate texture, especially with sauces and baked goods.
(01:55):
For example, if you're puring juicy vegetables to make a sauce,
say bell peppers, zanthing gum smooths it out and helps
it cohere. It comes in a powder form that you
can find in the grocery store or online, and you
need very little of it to create the thickening effect.
Matievich said, So when we're using cornstarch, we're using it
(02:16):
in concentrations of like one. With zanthing gum, we're using
it in like a quarter of a percent or even
less than that. But if you use too much zanthing gum,
it can get rubbery. Matievich said, I described the texture
sort of like mucus. It's very distinct and not pleasant
at all. The company Bob's Red Mill, which sells Anthing gum,
(02:40):
among other things, recommends just a quarter teaspoon of x
anthing gum per cup of non wheat flour for gluten
free cookies, and just one to one and a half
teaspoons per cup of flour for gluten free breads. You
can also add about a gram that's an eighth of
a teaspoon per liter of drip coffee once about four
and a half cups and process it an blender for
(03:00):
a few seconds for a dairy free latte. So where
does this substance come from? Xanthon gum comes from the
bacteria xanthonymous campis trees, which are found in nature on
the leaves of green vegetables such as broccoli, brussels, sprouts
and turnips. When these bacteria are grown in a particularly
formulated liquid and fed an excess of glucose, usually derived
(03:24):
from corn, soy, or wheat, they eat that sugar and
secrete xanthin into the environment around them. You can then
separate the xanthin out, dry it, and grind it into
a powder to create xanthon gum, all of which might
sound kind of gross, but it means it's a natural product.
Using colonies of friendly microorganisms as miniature farms, can give
(03:47):
us all kinds of awesome things, from beer to biofuel.
While zanthon gum has been around for decades, it's only
made its way into grocery store shelves within the past
decade or so, due in large part to the wrap
but rise in Celiac disease diagnoses, but also due to
home cook's interest in molecular gastronomy and other less conventional
(04:07):
schools of food preparation seen in posh restaurants and on
cooking shows. If you're looking for xanthing gum, check the
baking aisle or maybe the baking shelves in the natural
food section. Xanthing gum was approved as a food additive
by the US Food and Drug Administration or f d
A in nineteen sixty nine based on a safety assessment
by that federal agency and the World Health Organization and
(04:30):
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also deem it
safe for consumption. Aside from its thickening and emulsion qualities,
xanthing gum may also offer some health benefits to studies.
One published in ten in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition
and Metabolism and a second published in twenty sixteen in
(04:51):
Food Science and Technology Research found that xanthing gum may
have a positive impact on blood glucose levels. The twenty
sixteen studies show that it actually lowered the glycemic index
of rice and the blood sugar levels in those participants
who consumed it. There's also evidence that xanth and gum
binds moisture in the digestive tract and as such can
(05:13):
act as a laxative, which can be a blessing for
people who experience constipation, but a pain in the gut
for people with the opposite line of issues. And since
xanthem gum is made from bacteria that lives on cruciferous plants,
people with severe allergies to vegetables like broccoli and cabbage
may experience adverse reactions to products made with xanthon gum.
(05:38):
For those who don't have issues with it, though, Matteevich
suggests making it a staple. He said, I've had it
in my house for a while. It stores well like
a spice in a spice cabinet. It's such a useful product.
Today's episode was written by Jennifer Walker Journey and produced
(05:58):
by Tyler Clang. From more in this and lots of
other adhesive topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain
Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts In
my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Stuff Lauren vog obamb here. It's possible that you've never
heard of zanthing gum, but it's extremely probable that you've
eaten it before, maybe in a salad dressing, ice cream,
or a smoothie xanthing gum is a compound that stabilizes
(00:23):
and thickens foods so that they have the flavor and
mouth feel that you'd expect. Since it's discovery in the
nineteen sixties, zanthing gum has been an ingredient in a
variety of foods and beverages, including sauces, dairy products, baked goods, confections,
and low fat spreads. It helps suspend spices and salad dressings,
and even gives toothpaste to that smooth and consistent texture.
(00:46):
It's actually used in a number of industries, like to
help thicken drilling fluid in geotechnical engineering, and to bind
ingredients together in cosmetics. It's also a key ingredient in
gluten free foods of people with Celiac disease and gluten
sensitivities can experience painful stomach cramps and diarrhea if they
eat baked goods or other foods that contain flour. The
(01:09):
foods made without gluten rely on xanthing gum and other
ingredients to thicken them up and bind moisture inside, so
that gluten free breads and pastries can have the same
texture and flexibility of foods that contain gluten. We spoke
with Shaan Matievich, chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of
Virginia and Norfolk. He explained that it's just as useful
(01:32):
in household kitchens as commercial ones because it's colorless and flavorless.
Unlike other thickening agents like cornstarch or flour, xanthingum doesn't
block the flavor of the food it's mixed with, he said.
I talk about it with my students. It's something I've
been using for a long time. It's a really cool
way to manipulate texture, especially with sauces and baked goods.
(01:55):
For example, if you're puring juicy vegetables to make a sauce,
say bell peppers, zanthing gum smooths it out and helps
it cohere. It comes in a powder form that you
can find in the grocery store or online, and you
need very little of it to create the thickening effect.
Matievich said, So when we're using cornstarch, we're using it
(02:16):
in concentrations of like one. With zanthing gum, we're using
it in like a quarter of a percent or even
less than that. But if you use too much zanthing gum,
it can get rubbery. Matievich said, I described the texture
sort of like mucus. It's very distinct and not pleasant
at all. The company Bob's Red Mill, which sells Anthing gum,
(02:40):
among other things, recommends just a quarter teaspoon of x
anthing gum per cup of non wheat flour for gluten
free cookies, and just one to one and a half
teaspoons per cup of flour for gluten free breads. You
can also add about a gram that's an eighth of
a teaspoon per liter of drip coffee once about four
and a half cups and process it an blender for
(03:00):
a few seconds for a dairy free latte. So where
does this substance come from? Xanthon gum comes from the
bacteria xanthonymous campis trees, which are found in nature on
the leaves of green vegetables such as broccoli, brussels, sprouts
and turnips. When these bacteria are grown in a particularly
formulated liquid and fed an excess of glucose, usually derived
(03:24):
from corn, soy, or wheat, they eat that sugar and
secrete xanthin into the environment around them. You can then
separate the xanthin out, dry it, and grind it into
a powder to create xanthon gum, all of which might
sound kind of gross, but it means it's a natural product.
Using colonies of friendly microorganisms as miniature farms, can give
(03:47):
us all kinds of awesome things, from beer to biofuel.
While zanthon gum has been around for decades, it's only
made its way into grocery store shelves within the past
decade or so, due in large part to the wrap
but rise in Celiac disease diagnoses, but also due to
home cook's interest in molecular gastronomy and other less conventional
(04:07):
schools of food preparation seen in posh restaurants and on
cooking shows. If you're looking for xanthing gum, check the
baking aisle or maybe the baking shelves in the natural
food section. Xanthing gum was approved as a food additive
by the US Food and Drug Administration or f d
A in nineteen sixty nine based on a safety assessment
by that federal agency and the World Health Organization and
(04:30):
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also deem it
safe for consumption. Aside from its thickening and emulsion qualities,
xanthing gum may also offer some health benefits to studies.
One published in ten in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition
and Metabolism and a second published in twenty sixteen in
(04:51):
Food Science and Technology Research found that xanthing gum may
have a positive impact on blood glucose levels. The twenty
sixteen studies show that it actually lowered the glycemic index
of rice and the blood sugar levels in those participants
who consumed it. There's also evidence that xanth and gum
binds moisture in the digestive tract and as such can
(05:13):
act as a laxative, which can be a blessing for
people who experience constipation, but a pain in the gut
for people with the opposite line of issues. And since
xanthem gum is made from bacteria that lives on cruciferous plants,
people with severe allergies to vegetables like broccoli and cabbage
may experience adverse reactions to products made with xanthon gum.
(05:38):
For those who don't have issues with it, though, Matteevich
suggests making it a staple. He said, I've had it
in my house for a while. It stores well like
a spice in a spice cabinet. It's such a useful product.
Today's episode was written by Jennifer Walker Journey and produced
(05:58):
by Tyler Clang. From more in this and lots of
other adhesive topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain
Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts In
my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
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