Guar Gum

[Polona]

Hi everybody,

I have a bag of Guar gum which I purchased the last time I was in the States but I am not really sure how to use it. I know it's a thickner, but not sure how much to use. For example I do my own fruit jams and always use corn starch to thicken it. Last time I wanted to use Guar gum and it was so thick I could not do anything with it.
Any suggestion where and how (how much) to use it? Thanks for answers.

Polona

[S B]

I have not used guar gum for jams and jellies, so I cannot help you on that but I do use from 1/2 to 1 whole teaspoon per cup of (thin, water-like) liquid to thicken it to salad dressing consistency. However, it takes at least an hour for it to thicken about as much as it is able to -- so, when you first stir it in, do not let it fool you into thinking that you need more of it!

I have tried using it in some of my gluten-free quick bread baking experiments by mixing 1/2 teaspoon per cup of gluten-free flour (it did so-so) -- but I think 1 to 2 teaspoons of guar gum per cup of flour is needed for gluten-free yeast breads. (As far as I know, I do not have any problems with gluten. I experimented so, that just in case the situation came up, I would know how to make a quick bread for someone who can't eat gluten.)

Hope this helps!

[Polona]

Thanks for your reply, S B.

[Jeanie]

Hi Polona,

I don't know anything about guar gum but a long long time ago my husband and I made some cranapple jelly that turned out so thick that it was like a superball - it actually bounced when I dropped some on the counter to see what would happen !

Anyway, I took it out a little at a time and just mixed it with warm water - smashing it around w/ a fork - and it still worked very well on toast and such. So I hope you haven't thrown out the thick jelly that you made.

good luck with it ~~