A gelling agent is a chemical compound that has viscoelastic characteristics, i.e. somewhere between a solid and a fluid, and is characterised by an elastic consistency and marked viscosity.
Food
In the food industry, gelling agents are used in the preparation of jams, puddings, bakery products and also in meatballs to make them softer and more attractive for purchase.
Gelling is a procedure closely linked to heterogeneous factors such as pH, ions, temperature and concentration of ingredients. The procedure includes many parameters such as elasticity, cohesion, hardness, chewiness, gumminess.
Some food gelling agents:
- Maize starch
- Locust bean gum
- Xanthan gum
- Hydrocolloids
- Pectin
- Polysaccharides
- Egg white protein
Cosmetics
Emulsions are thermodynamically unstable and the addition of a gelling agent increases the viscosity of the solution and tends to stabilise the emulsion. Many gelling agents used by the food industry are also used in cosmetics.
