ABSTRACT
Exudate gums have been employed for centuries in many fields; they have maintained their significance despite the arrival of a variety of new gums with comparable and distinctive performances. Gum karaya contains the lowest amount of proteinaceous material among all the exudate gums. Gum solubility can be increased by deacetylation, which gives the product a more expanded conformation. By the means of chemical deacetylation, the gum can be modified from a water-swellable to a water-soluble material. Exudate gums have been exploited in food applications for years, for the purpose of emulsification, thickening, and stabilization. At the beginning of the 20th century, gum karaya was sold as gum tragacanth or as an adulterant of gum tragacanth, due to the large price gap between the two gums. Gum karaya was proven to have better applications than accessible gums and, thus, it found its own niche in the marketplace. Using gum karaya at ~0.25% in ground meat products gives them a smooth appearance.
