Less guar needed

29 August 2012 – TIC Gums is introducing Ticaloid Lite Powder (a guar gum extender) for the baking industry. As bakeries are traditionally bigger users of guar gum for their operations, this is welcome news as this new product (while containing limited amounts of guar gum) delivers the functional benefits of guar gum using other gums instead of guar gum.

The powder is a specialised blend of hydrocolloids that is recommended particularly for cakes, breads, and similar bakery products to improve texture, mouth feel and increase volume as well as retain moisture. It also imparts a moderate stable viscosity to liquid systems. Usage levels are 0.15-0.30% of flour weight.

A guar gum extender is particularly useful at the moment as the guar gum market has experienced unprecedented demand from the energy industry during the last 24 months. The price of guar gum increased as much as 1,600% during this time. While a small retreat in price occurred during July, 2012, the outcome of the 2012 guar gum harvest is still not a certainty. While more guar was planted in 2012 than 2011, the monsoon rains on the sub-continent of India and Pakistan were late arriving and not in the amounts needed to insure an adequate crop to satisfy demand from the food and energy industries.

The other gums used in Ticaloid Lite Powder are in more abundant supply and not subject to the same demand or price variations that guar gum is. Blends of gums often provide added benefits to end users that a single gum cannot.