The Alchemist's Cookbook

March, 2002
Volume 1
Issue 2

Page 6

Xanthan
All About Chewing Gum

Story by Marsha Taylor

Chewing gum…different colours, flavours, and shapes. Whatever the form, it is popular…are you chewing it now, were you just chewing it…planning on sticking a piece in soon? Although you might be putting in a fresh piece of gum, it is an old habit that started with natural gums. Now of course that has been changed and there are synthetic "gums" that are used to keep the texture and taste lasting.

There are not many ingredients to chewing gum: powdered sugar, gum base (a combination of food-grade synthetic and natural ingredients that make gum smooth and chewy,) glucose syrup, softeners, flavouring and colouring. The most important ingredient is the gum base, which provides the elastic chewing texture and ability to hold things in suspension. One of the more common gums to use in manufacturing of chewing gum is a polysaccharide known as Xanthan.

Xanthan is derived by Xanthanmonas campestris, a beautiful bacteria! Gums can be derived from seaweed, plants, and now more commonly, chemicals as well. For industrial purposes the bacteria is grown in vats and the product is collected and refined for manufacturing. The gum from the vats is precipitated with isopropanol, then milled and refined and finally dried in to a powder. Xanthan is a very stable gum which why it is so popular in the manufacturing of chewing gum. It is stable from high temperature denaturation and has a uniform viscosity over a huge temperature range (-18 to 80 degrees C). It is also stable over a wide range of pH and has a high salt compatibility. Xanthan is also used in many other different foods, cosmetics, textile and animal feed as an emulsifier and bulking agent.

The structure is a cellulose backbone with trisaccharide (three-sugar) side chains and repeating pentasaccharide (five-sugar) units. Generally the side chains carry a negative charge. It is soluble in both hot and cold water. As a gum though, its one property that is very useful for industry is that it is effective at very low concentrations. Very small quantities can produce very significant emulsifying and water binding properties.

The main purpose of Xanthan and any gum that is added is to bind and hold water. Xanthan forms alpha helicies as a secondary structure, which allows for water binding within the structure.
Now that we know a bit about Xanthan…here's how they make chewing gum:

1) Gum base ingredients are melted and filtered.
2) Other ingredients such as sugar, colour and flavours are added.
3) Machines blend and smooth the gum.
4) The gum is shaped appropriately, strips, balls and assorted shapes!
5) Gum is sprinkled with a sweetner powder, which prevents it from sticking to machinery and wrapping.
6) The gum is cooled to allow for proper setting.
7) If needed the gum is candy coated and then wrapped and packaged.

Gums are an essential part to many foods not just chewing gum and Xanthan gum is just one example of a wide range or polysaccharides that are responsible for providing us with hours and hours of chewing and eating enjoyment!

Fun Gum Facts!
-During World War 2, gum became a big hit and was traded from the US military to other countries
-The biggest bubble ever blown was 23 inches
-Need to get gum out of your hair?…try peanut butter, apparently it works…(although I may question that!)

References:

http://www.orst.edu/food-resource/gums/xanthan.html

http://www.nacgm.org/index.html

TAlC/bc