Application examples of carrageenan in food industry

　　Carrageenan is mainly used as gelling, thickening, stabilizing and water-holding agent in food industry, and as suspending agent in dairy drinks. Used as thickening stabilizer in pudding, yogurt, whipped cream, ice cream and cheese; Used as water-holding agent in the production of sausage and foreign ham; Used as gelling agent in jelly.

　　There are many kinds of carrageenan, which can be roughly divided into three main "ideal" types and belong to two categories:

　　■ Gel carrageenan: products mainly containing kappa and iota.

　　■ Thickened carrageenan: products mainly containing lamda components.

　　Potassium ions can especially promote the gelation of kappa carrageenan. Gel formation can be promoted at a very low concentration. Due to the small volume of potassium ion during hydration, it can be embedded in the coiled structure and neutralize some sulfate groups. In this way, the double-stranded structure can be polymerized together to form a gel with high strength and brittle texture.

　　Iota carrageenan is composed of a series of double chains and kinks, forming a transparent elastic gel. This loose structure is easily damaged by mechanical action. But when the machine stops, it will coagulate quickly again. This property is called "thixotropy" and is very important in some applications, such as cold canned milk desserts.

　　In the field of dairy products, carrageenan can be used to stabilize chocolate drinks and dairy desserts, such as egg tarts, egg puddings, multilayer desserts, baking cream and Mu Si. Carrageenan can also be combined with guar gum, locust bean gum and alginate to make ice cream.

　　In the field of meat products, carrageenan plays an important role in reducing the fat content of hamburgers and other products, thickening and stabilizing canned meat or fish products.

　　Combined with other hydrocolloids, carrageenan can also be used in jam, jelly, candy, sauce, instant products and baking glaze juice.
　

　　Food Name Functional Carrageenan Category Consumption (%)

　　0.5-1.0 of jelly kappa+Aota+locust bean gum.

　　Meat jelly kappa+locust bean gum 0.5-1.0.

　　Fish jelly kappa+locust bean gum or kappa+Aota 0.5-1.0.

　　Pulp beverage thickening Lyme type 0.1-0.2

　　Thickened sauce, weak gel kappa type 0.2-0.5.

　　Thickening with tomato sauce, weak gel type+starch 0.1-0.25.

　　Western ham gel kappa type +STPP 1-2

　　Emulsification of imitation milk stabilized Lyme+Aota type 0.05

　　Ice cream stabilized kappa+locust bean gum +CMC+ guar gum 0.1-0.3.

　　Yogurt stabilized kappa+locust bean gum 0.2-0.5.

　　Condensed milk emulsion stabilized aota type 0.005

　　Chocolate milk floating kappa type 0.01-0.035

　　Cream stabilized Lydda type 0.05-0.15

　　Cheese improved coating kappa type+locust bean gum 0.01-0.05.