What is the correct way to use thickener?

Maybe many people don’t know what thickeners are. In fact, they are widely used in the food industry. Thickeners are essentially a food additive. After adding this substance, the viscosity of the food will be greatly improved. For example, many liquid foods and jelly foods that everyone knows have thickener ingredients added. Thickeners can change the physical properties of food and even change the taste of food. So how should thickeners be used?

How to use thickener:

Thickener is also called gelling agent, and when used in food, it is also called paste or food glue. It can increase the viscosity of the system, keep the system in a uniform and stable suspension or emulsion state, or form a gel. It is widely used in food, coatings, adhesives, cosmetics, detergents, printing and dyeing, rubber, medicine and other fields. In paint printing, the paint printing paste composed of thickener, water, adhesive and paint paste, generates shear force under the action of printing mechanical force, which makes the viscosity of the printing paste drop sharply in an instant; when the shear force disappears, it returns to its original high viscosity, making the fabric printing outline clear. This change in viscosity caused by changes in shear force is mainly achieved by thickeners. In the manufacture of latex paint, thickeners play a multi-faceted coordinating role in the thickening, stabilization and rheological properties of latex paint. It is used as a protective colloid in the latex polymerization process to improve the stability of the emulsion; in the pigment and filler dispersion stage, it increases the viscosity of the dispersed materials and facilitates dispersion; during storage and transportation, it improves the stability and freeze-thaw resistance of the coating and prevents the pigment and filler from sinking to the bottom and agglomerating; during construction, it adjusts the viscosity of the latex paint and exhibits good thixotropy. Adding a few thousandths of food thickener to food has the effects of gelling, film-forming, water-holding, suspension, emulsification, foam stabilization and lubrication. It plays a very important role in the color, aroma, taste, structure and relative stability of liquid or jelly foods.

Thickeners are mostly hydrophilic polymer compounds, which are divided into animal, plant, mineral, synthetic or semi-synthetic types according to their sources. Simple points can be divided into two categories: natural and synthetic. Most natural products are extracted from plants and seaweeds containing polysaccharide viscous substances, such as starch, pectin, agar, gelatin, seaweed fat, carrageenan, dextrin, tragacanth gum, polysaccharide derivatives, etc.; synthetic products include methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose and other cellulose derivatives, starch derivatives, casein, sodium polyacrylate, polyethylene oxide, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, low molecular weight polyethylene wax, polyacrylamide, etc.

The thickeners commonly used in beverage production and used as emulsifiers and stabilizers mainly include sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, propylene glycol alginate, carrageenan, xanthan gum, pectin, guar gum, locust bean gum, etc.