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Xanthan Gum 80 mesh (MHF-80) Food Grade
Xanthan Gum, or just Xanthan, is a very versatile ingredient and has many uses both in modernist and traditional cooking. It is also very easy to use and work with. Xanthan Gum is great for thickening liquids, especially in small amounts, to turn them into flavourful sauces. It also can be used to create light foams and froths. Xanthan Gum is excellent when used to stabilise emulsions or to suspend particles in liquids and is very effective at keeping purees from separating.
Xanthan Gum has a very neutral flavour so it mixes well with foods without masking their flavour. It provides an improved mouthfeel for many preparations, slightly thickening a liquid similar to how traditionally reducing a liquid does. Xanthan also adds a desirable texture that fat usually contributes, making it ideal in low-fat preparations.
Xanthan Gum is gluten free and is often used as a substitute in baking and thickening. It also helps baked goods to retain more moisture than they would have otherwise. When mixed into batters or tempura Xanthan Gum adds good cling, allowing the batter to stick more easily to the food. Also, Xanthan Gum does not lose its properties when microwaved.
How Do You Add Xanthan to a Liquid?
It can hydrate and disperse at any temperature, and does so quickly, making it one of the few ingredients you can add slowly and instantly see the result. Xanthan Gum has a very neutral flavour so it mixes well with foods without masking their taste.
To add Xanthan Gum, sprinkle it on the liquid and then blend or whisk it until it is fully combined. You can also improve the dispersion of Xanthan Gum by first mixing it with sugar, then adding it to the liquid. This is similar to making a slurry out of flour and cold water before adding it to gravy to prevent clumping. The sugar will prevent the Xanthan Gum from hydrating until it has been dispersed enough in the liquid for the sugar percent to go down.
Xanthan Gum will pretty much work in liquid of any temperature. However, if the liquid is very sugary then it can have trouble hydrating. Typically, if the sugar is less than 55% to 60% it will work fine.
How Much Xanthan Gum to Use?
The amount of xanthan gum used will depend on the technique you are using it for.
As a thickening agent, the amount of xanthan gum you will use depends on how thick you want the liquid to be. In general, you will use a 0.1% weight ratio for light thickening up to a 1.0% ratio for a very thick sauce. Be warned though, adding too much xanthan gum can result in a texture and mouthfeel resembling mucus.
To make a xanthan gum foam a ratio between 0.2% and 0.8% is typically used. The more xanthan gum you use the larger the bubbles that can occur and the denser the foam will be.
For bubbles, resembling soap bubbles, a typical ratio is 0.1% to 0.4% xanthan gum and 0.2% to 2.0% Versawhip or egg white powder.
When making an emulsion, the more xanthan gum you add, the stronger the emulsion will be. However, it will also thicken the emulsion, which may or may not be desirable. To start binding an emulsion a ratio of around 0.1% can be used. If you want to also thicken the emulsion you can add up to around 0.7% of Xanthan Gum.
Appearance: Off-white or light Yellow Fine Powder
Thru 80mesh: 98.5%
Shearing Ratio: 7.7
pH (1% XG Solution): 7.0
