Refined Cassia Gum Powder as a Fat Substitute

Cassia gum powder has a large number of applications in industries stretching from food, cosmetics, textiles, paper to mining and others. It is one of the major contributors to the texture and feel of the products that we stumble across every day. The structure of the cassia powder imparts it numerous properties that make it one of the key ingredients in a wide array of industries. Guar gum is used as a thickening, binding, stabilizing, hydrating, binding agent. It is also preferred for application as an emulsifier and possesses the ability to be used in various formulations.

Properties of Refined Cassia Gum Powder

Refined cassia gum powder is nothing but a galactomannan polysaccharide having a high molecular weight. It has the ability to form viscoelastic gels with xanthan gum. The refined cassia powder is a free-flowing one without any presence of the lumps. Hence, it exhibits excellent solubility in water as it hydrates at  85°C, thus forming a low viscosity solution. Refined cassia gum powder conforms to the EEC standard E427 and that makes it felicitous for being used as an ingredient in food formulations.

The moisture content in the refined powder of cassia gum can maximum go up to 12% with pH value ranging from 6.5 to 7.5. In addition to that, the acid-insoluble matter and the acid content can only achieve a maximum value of 1.5%. Refined cassia gum powder also shows traces of protein content that can go up to 7%.

Applications of Refined Cassia Gum Powder

A wide variety of food applications include its usage in ham and sausages for gelling and texturizing, fat stabilizer and replacer in cheese spreads, yogurts, and ice-creams, stabilizer and gelling agent for meat and vegetable spreads, thickening agent in sauces and ketchup, water binding agent in the bakery, etc. Cassia gum powder has always been considered as a much cheaper alternative to the locust bean gum. It is also believed to reduce the content of kappa carrageenan in the already available recipe.

Refined Cassia Gum Powder as Fat Substitute

The modern demographic is getting health conscious with every day and hence they keep a check on their consumption of fat. They continuously look for low-fat content alternatives that will prove to be quite healthy to consume as a part of their dietary plan. Refined cassia gum powder is used as a fat substitute in cheese manufacturing. The main area of concern regarding cheese products is syneresis or weeping. Cassia gum powder helps in preventing this phenomenon by performing water phase management and also improves the texture of the product. It is used in soft cheese products and thus enhances the yield of curd solids. Additionally, the addition of refined cassia gum powder also results in providing a softer curve to the soft cheese items with their whey separated. Cassia powder has an advantage in producing low fat cheese products as it does not lead to much change in the rheology and texture of the lowe fat cheese products as compared to its counterpart, high-fat cheese products. Even in certain meat products, the addition of refined cassia gum powder leads to the prevention of fat migration when they are stored.

Written by Ajit Patel

This article has been posted by Ajit Patel.