Functional Properties of Acacia Gum

Acacia Gum / Gum Arabic readily dissolves in water to give clear solutions ranging in colour from very pale yellow to orange·brown and with a pH of - 4.5. The highly branched structure of Acacia senega/gum gives rise to compact molecules with a relatively small hydrodynamic volume and as a consequence gum solutions become viscous only at high concentrations. 30% gum Acacia  solutions have a lower viscosity than 1 % xanthan gum and sodium carboxymethylcellulose at low shear rates. In addition.
Acacia Gum is Newtonian in behaviour with viscosity being shear rate independent.The other major functional characteristic of gum Arabic is its ability to act as an emulsifier for essential oils and flavours. It is now known that the protein·rich high molecular mass component adsorbs preferentially onto the surface of the oil droplets. It is envisaged that the hydrophobic polypeptide chains adsorb and anchor the molecules to the surface while the carbohydrate blocks inhibit flocculation and coalescence through electrostatic and steric repulsions. Since only part of the gum is involved in the emulsification process, the concentration required to produce an emulsion is much higher than for pure proteins. For example, in order to produce a 20% orange oil emulsion then Acacia  concentrations of - 12% are required. Once formed the emulsions can remain stable for long periods of time.

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