What is Guar Gum?
Guar gum can best be described as a natural food thickener, similar to locust bean gum, cornstarch or tapioca flour. Guar gum is said to have significantly more thickening ability than cornstarch, at a fraction of the cost. This has made guar gum a popular additive in products such as puddings and ice creams. Until recently, guar gum was also an ingredient in non-prescription diet pills designed to create a sense of fullness. The dietary supplement Benefiber is almost 100 percent guar gum. The guar plant, also known as a cluster plant, grows primarily in Pakistan and the northern regions of India. It thrives on the drought/monsoon cycles present in those areas. The plants are harvested after the monsoon season and the seeds are allowed to dry in the sun. The seeds are then manually or mechanically separated and processed into a flour or sold as split seeds. Guar gum is an important cash crop for the Indian and Pakistani economies.
