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