Carrageenan as a natural food additive for many years of history, it is a harmless but can not be digested plant fiber, uses very extensive. Foreign commercial production of carrageenan is 20 years from the beginning of the 20th century, China began producing commercial from 1985 with carrageenan, 80 for food or food-related industries.

1) Coagulant
Carrageenan is the formation of semi-solid gel-like characteristics. Carrageenan is a jelly made excellent coagulant, can be solidified at room temperature, after forming the gel was semi-solid form, transparency and good, but not easy to collapse. Can also be made of carrageenan jelly powder added nutrients, consumption of water during melting is very convenient, but also for milk, pudding and fruit pudding coagulants, water excretion in a small, delicate tissue, low viscosity, good heat transfer. When making jelly with red bean, carrageenan can be added as coagulant. Made with carrageenan for coagulant water jelly, canned food, and very easy to bring them additional fruits, nutrients better than the average water jelly. Carrageenan may also be canned meat coagulant.

Transparency in the production of carrageenan for coagulant used fruit candy, candy of transparency, and fruit flavor, sweetness palatable, refreshing non-stick teeth.Hard candy in the general added carrageenan, make products even, smooth, stability increased.

2) Stabilizer
Dried carrageenan powder is very stable, long-term placement will not quickly degraded; carrageenan solution at slightly alkaline or neutral when the very stable, but will be unstable under acidic conditions, prone to hydrolysis.

Carrageenan can be used for ice cream stabilizer, so that fat and other solid components distribution, to prevent whey separation and storage of ice crystals when the increase in manufacturing and to make ice cream, delicate tissue, structurally sound, smooth palatability. Making baby food, milk and soy foods need to be added carrageenan, fat and protein stability can not separate. Coffee or tea extracts added as stabilizer carrageenan can be made into dry powder or paste form, such products can be opened with the hot water for drinking, very convenient. Fruit and yogurt in to add carrageenan, uniform and stable product can to prevent heat and acid decomposition, increase pulp suspension and reduce the bleeding water.

3) SC
Carrageenan can make juice the suspension stabilizer, addition of carrageenan in the juice, make pulp particles evenly suspended in the juice, the slow sinking speed, and can improve the taste when drinking. Add in the cocoa milk carrageenan, carrageenan can react with proteins to make cocoa powder suspended without sinking.

4) Plasticizer
Western-style pastry cream, cake and other large West Point, on the surface there are many decorative patterns or text, in the decoration added to carrageenan, forming a good pattern can not easily deformed or collapsed, and the non-stick wrapping paper. In the production of cheese products, adding carrageenan, can form a stable paste body, to maintain shape and prevent bleeding.

5) Clarifier
Carrageenan is a polysaccharide polymer along the negative charge, molecules with a half-sulfate groups, with the protein reaction. Carrageenan as clarifying agent commonly used in wine, vinegar, soy sauce, in beer production, carrageenan as a clarifying agent, to remove the beer made mix of protein, so that products were transparent, good effect, while the improvement of beer hanging cup capacity and beer foam stability.

6) Thickener
Carrageenan to form a high viscosity solution, is due to their non-branch structure and straight-chain polyelectrolyte macromolecules caused by nature. In soy sauce, fish sauce and shrimp ointment for seasoning adding carrageenan thickener, can improve product consistency and adjust taste. Westerns salad with Carrageenan modulation effects are very good. When making red bean paste can be added for thickening agent Carrageenan, coagulant and stabilizer, the product dispersed and good taste. Chongqing slaughter traders is to use the thickening properties of carrageenan injected into the meat, so meat color looks fresh, weight increase.

7) Adhesive
Carrageenan can form high viscosity solutions, such as in the jam or canned caviar is available for condensation carrageenan binder, very good.

 Prospects of Carrageenan

Carrageenan, natural substances that have a strong reaction, can form a gel and high-viscosity solution, stability and other excellent properties, and protein responses in all the unique water-soluble polymer. Satisfactory flexibility, transparency and solubility expanded its scope of application; safe non-toxic properties have been the UN FAO and WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is recognized widely used in food industry, chemical industry and biochemistry, medical research and other fields. Thus in recent years, the rapid development of carrageenan at home and abroad, demand. The unique properties of other resins can not be replaced, making the rapid development of carrageenan industry, now the worlds total output of carrageenan has been far more than the annual production of agar.

Carrageenan first widely used in Europe and the United States, the world production of seaweed extract carrageenan gum, accounting for the second. In recent years, China has been included in the food additive carrageenan directory. Carrageenan has been included in the FAO and WHO food standards for usage instructions, a bright future. However, vendors such as Chongqing, their "magical effect" is really selfish, money earned is the black heart, and should be curbed.