Re: Coconut custard or pudding recipe? guar gum is not good for you

[Guest guest]

hi marianne and debbie

i would warn against consuming thickeners like guar gum, it is known

to be somewhat dangerous to our precious bodies! i pasted some info

below, i don't think xanthan gum is mentioned in the following

paragraph, but i stay away from that one too.

health to you ~ susan

Most commercial stabilizers and thickeners are pure plant extracts,

and the use of plant gums for this purpose, is quite extensive. Gums

are extracted from seaweed, trees and seeds, while cellulose

derivatives are obtained from wood pulp and cotton. The seaweed

extracts include agar, algin, carrageenan and furcellaran. The tree

gums include arabic, ghatti, karaya, larch and tragacanth. Then

there are still extracts of seeds which include guar, and extracts

from the carob bean (also called locust bean), and finally the

commonly used cellulose derivatives are methylcellulose,

carboxymethyl-cellulose and hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose. The most

commonly used natural emulsifier is lecithin which is obtained from

soybeans and other vegetable oils, but synthetic mono-, di- and

triglycerides are also extensively used. Synthetic stabilizers and

emulsifiers are used extensively in the baking and dairy industry,

and in the UK the permitted substances include stearyl tartrate,

complete glycerol esters, partial glycerol esters, partial

polyglycerol esters, propylene glycol esters, monostearin sodium

sulphoacetate, sorbitan esters of fatty acids and their

polyoxyethylene derivatives, cellulose ethers, sodium carboxymethyl

cellulose and acetic and tartaric acid esters of mono- and

diglycerides. Some of these compounds are suspected to be

carcinogens, and approval for the use of some of the polyoxyethylene

compounds has been withdrawn in some countries.

Source:

http://www.amazingdiscoveries.org/amazingdiet/food_additives.htm

The label says there is guar gum added; it is a wonderful natural

thickner that only adds fiber and doesn't require heating as does

corn starch. I have not yet tried adding extra guar gum to make the

doconut milk thicker, but I think it would work.

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> nne