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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren vog obamb here. It's possible that you've never

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Speaker 1: heard of zanthing gum, but it's extremely probable that you've

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Speaker 1: eaten it before, maybe in a salad dressing, ice cream,

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Speaker 1: or a smoothie xanthing gum is a compound that stabilizes

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Speaker 1: and thickens foods so that they have the flavor and

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Speaker 1: mouth feel that you'd expect. Since it's discovery in the

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, zanthing gum has been an ingredient in a

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Speaker 1: variety of foods and beverages, including sauces, dairy products, baked goods, confections,

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Speaker 1: and low fat spreads. It helps suspend spices and salad dressings,

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Speaker 1: and even gives toothpaste to that smooth and consistent texture.

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Speaker 1: It's actually used in a number of industries, like to

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Speaker 1: help thicken drilling fluid in geotechnical engineering, and to bind

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Speaker 1: ingredients together in cosmetics. It's also a key ingredient in

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Speaker 1: gluten free foods of people with Celiac disease and gluten

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Speaker 1: sensitivities can experience painful stomach cramps and diarrhea if they

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Speaker 1: eat baked goods or other foods that contain flour. The

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Speaker 1: foods made without gluten rely on xanthing gum and other

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Speaker 1: ingredients to thicken them up and bind moisture inside, so

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Speaker 1: that gluten free breads and pastries can have the same

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Speaker 1: texture and flexibility of foods that contain gluten. We spoke

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Speaker 1: with Shaan Matievich, chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of

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Speaker 1: Virginia and Norfolk. He explained that it's just as useful

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Speaker 1: in household kitchens as commercial ones because it's colorless and flavorless.

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Speaker 1: Unlike other thickening agents like cornstarch or flour, xanthingum doesn't

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Speaker 1: block the flavor of the food it's mixed with, he said.

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Speaker 1: I talk about it with my students. It's something I've

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Speaker 1: been using for a long time. It's a really cool

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Speaker 1: way to manipulate texture, especially with sauces and baked goods.

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Speaker 1: For example, if you're puring juicy vegetables to make a sauce,

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Speaker 1: say bell peppers, zanthing gum smooths it out and helps

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Speaker 1: it cohere. It comes in a powder form that you

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Speaker 1: can find in the grocery store or online, and you

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Speaker 1: need very little of it to create the thickening effect.

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Speaker 1: Matievich said, So when we're using cornstarch, we're using it

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Speaker 1: in concentrations of like one. With zanthing gum, we're using

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Speaker 1: it in like a quarter of a percent or even

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Speaker 1: less than that. But if you use too much zanthing gum,

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Speaker 1: it can get rubbery. Matievich said, I described the texture

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Speaker 1: sort of like mucus. It's very distinct and not pleasant

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Speaker 1: at all. The company Bob's Red Mill, which sells Anthing gum,

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Speaker 1: among other things, recommends just a quarter teaspoon of x

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Speaker 1: anthing gum per cup of non wheat flour for gluten

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Speaker 1: free cookies, and just one to one and a half

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Speaker 1: teaspoons per cup of flour for gluten free breads. You

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Speaker 1: can also add about a gram that's an eighth of

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Speaker 1: a teaspoon per liter of drip coffee once about four

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Speaker 1: and a half cups and process it an blender for

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Speaker 1: a few seconds for a dairy free latte. So where

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Speaker 1: does this substance come from? Xanthon gum comes from the

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Speaker 1: bacteria xanthonymous campis trees, which are found in nature on

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Speaker 1: the leaves of green vegetables such as broccoli, brussels, sprouts

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Speaker 1: and turnips. When these bacteria are grown in a particularly

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Speaker 1: formulated liquid and fed an excess of glucose, usually derived

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Speaker 1: from corn, soy, or wheat, they eat that sugar and

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Speaker 1: secrete xanthin into the environment around them. You can then

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Speaker 1: separate the xanthin out, dry it, and grind it into

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Speaker 1: a powder to create xanthon gum, all of which might

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Speaker 1: sound kind of gross, but it means it's a natural product.

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Speaker 1: Using colonies of friendly microorganisms as miniature farms, can give

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Speaker 1: us all kinds of awesome things, from beer to biofuel.

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Speaker 1: While zanthon gum has been around for decades, it's only

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Speaker 1: made its way into grocery store shelves within the past

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Speaker 1: decade or so, due in large part to the wrap

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Speaker 1: but rise in Celiac disease diagnoses, but also due to

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Speaker 1: home cook's interest in molecular gastronomy and other less conventional

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Speaker 1: schools of food preparation seen in posh restaurants and on

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Speaker 1: cooking shows. If you're looking for xanthing gum, check the

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Speaker 1: baking aisle or maybe the baking shelves in the natural

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Speaker 1: food section. Xanthing gum was approved as a food additive

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Speaker 1: by the US Food and Drug Administration or f d

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Speaker 1: A in nineteen sixty nine based on a safety assessment

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Speaker 1: by that federal agency and the World Health Organization and

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Speaker 1: the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also deem it

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Speaker 1: safe for consumption. Aside from its thickening and emulsion qualities,

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Speaker 1: xanthing gum may also offer some health benefits to studies.

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Speaker 1: One published in ten in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition

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Speaker 1: and Metabolism and a second published in twenty sixteen in

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Speaker 1: Food Science and Technology Research found that xanthing gum may

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Speaker 1: have a positive impact on blood glucose levels. The twenty

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Speaker 1: sixteen studies show that it actually lowered the glycemic index

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Speaker 1: of rice and the blood sugar levels in those participants

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Speaker 1: who consumed it. There's also evidence that xanth and gum

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Speaker 1: binds moisture in the digestive tract and as such can

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Speaker 1: act as a laxative, which can be a blessing for

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Speaker 1: people who experience constipation, but a pain in the gut

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Speaker 1: for people with the opposite line of issues. And since

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Speaker 1: xanthem gum is made from bacteria that lives on cruciferous plants,

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Speaker 1: people with severe allergies to vegetables like broccoli and cabbage

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Speaker 1: may experience adverse reactions to products made with xanthon gum.

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Speaker 1: For those who don't have issues with it, though, Matteevich

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Speaker 1: suggests making it a staple. He said, I've had it

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Speaker 1: in my house for a while. It stores well like

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Speaker 1: a spice in a spice cabinet. It's such a useful product.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Jennifer Walker Journey and produced

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Speaker 1: by Tyler Clang. From more in this and lots of

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Speaker 1: other adhesive topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts In

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