Gums

Substances that have great capacity for binding water but that can form gels only in exceptional circumstances. They are especially well suited for stabilizing foods by forming very viscous liquids. Gums have very different characteristics and are obtained from a variety of sources: some come from plants (e.g., locust bean gum, guar gum, and gum arabic); others are the products of bacterial action (e.g., xanthan gum and gellan gum); still others are extracted by chemical processes from plants (e.g., methyl cellulose).