TIC Gums Introduces Guar Gum Extender Ticaloid Lite Powder

For food manufacturers and product developers using guar in bakery products where moisture management is important, the textural attributes guar gum provides can be copied by other blends of gums.

23 Aug 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.

Ticaloid Lite Powder is a specialized 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 of Ticaloid Lite Powder are 0.15-0.30% of flour weight.

Guar Gum Market Pressure

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. A small retreat in price occurred during July, 2012, but 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. 

Mimicking the Attributes of Guar Gum

For food manufacturers and product developers using guar in bakery products where moisture management is important, the textural attributes guar gum provides can be copied by other blends of gums.  Ticaloid Lite Powder has some guar, but it also has other gums with the properties of guar. These other gums 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.

The Power of Blended Gums

A single gum will rarely provide a total texture or stabilization solution. A combination of gums results in a synergistic compound with more desirable qualities. Moreover, because the production process itself can affect guar gum performance, a specialized blend helps to mitigate problems in advance.  "TIC Gums is not simply a gum or ingredient supplier," said Greg Andon, president of TIC Gums.  "We are a knowledge company with access to and knowledge about how gum systems interact with and positively impact the quality of food and beverages."