Edible thickeners, also known as food stabilizers, can improve the physical properties of foods, increase the viscosity of foods,
and impart an adhesive to the food. It can also be used as a stabilizer for emulsifiers.
There are many kinds, most of which are made from plants and algae containing polysaccharides,
such as starch, pectin, agar and alginic acid, and also from animal raw materials such as gelatin and casein.
A few are synthetic, such as sodium polyacrylate. Commonly used thickeners are various modified starches
such as starch, agar, gelatin, sodium alginate, pectin,
propylene glycol dimethacrylate, carboxymethyl cellulose and their salts
(such as acid-treated starch, alkali-treated starch). , bleached starch, oxidized starch, acetated starch, etc.). The vegetable gums include gum arabic, guar gum and xanthan gum.
