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Agar is the healthiest hydrocolloid on the market

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Agar is the healthiest hydrocolloid on the market

Let’s begin with a short explanation of what hydrocolloids are. Hydrocolloids are a large family of polysaccharides and proteins that dissolve in water as colloids and are highly prone to forming gels. Thanks to these properties, they have a wide variety of applications. They help to texturize, thicken, bind, emulsify, stabilize, form foam, films, gel, thin and increase adherence. Due to all these applications, they can be found in countless ways in our daily life.

There is a wide range of hydrocolloids: Guar rubber, Konjac, gelatin, starch, agar, alginates, carrageenans… They are of animal origin, such as gelatin, from fruit, such as pectin, from algae, such as agar or manufactured from plants, such as xanthan gum. 

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Of all the range of hydrocolloids on the market, agar is the healthiest. Traditionally, in traditional Asian medicine, it has been recognized as having various properties. Agar is moisturizing, easily digestible, satiating, regulates the intestinal transit, provides minerals, contains less than 0.2% fat, decreases cholesterol absorption and sugar and flushes out toxic residues. Finally, it is the main vegan and natural alternative to animal-based gelatin. At Agarmex we have a wide range of bacteriological agars adapted to any of your needs.

Category: Food Agar

Did you know that agar is used in diagnostic tests?

Did you know that agar is used in diagnostic tests?

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Thanks to agar and peptones, nowadays, it is possible to diagnose a large number of diseases. These are, for example, respiratory, digestive tract or urinary diseases. Some of them have effective treatments and others are of concern to the WHO because of their resistance to antibiotics. Therefore, rapid diagnosis using agar is essential. 

Practically everyone has been diagnosed using agar. In the case of a patient going to a medical center with symptoms of a disease caused by bacteria, a sample shall be taken and inoculated into a suitable medium to encourage the multiplication of the microorganisms. What is the purpose of this process? To see if the disease-causing bacteria is present in the sample.

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This medium is solid or liquid agar, enriched with peptones or other different substances (sugars, hydrates…) that promote the growth of the bacteria to be diagnosed. In this way, within a few hours, the medical center’s laboratory will be able to know whether the disease is related to a bacterial infection, and shall prescribe the appropriate treatment for each specific case. 

But the uses of agar do not end here. Thanks to the agar culture media, it is possible to carry out tests with different antibiotics and thus analyze their effectiveness to fight against specific diseases. In this way, by the time the treatment reaches the patient, it is possible to known its effectiveness and which is the most suitable for each specific case. 

At Agarmex we have a wide range of bacteriological agar with the highest quality. 

Category: Bacto Agar

Differences between Gelidium and Gracilaria alga agars

Differences between Gelidium and Gracilaria alga agars

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Agar-agar comes from different sea vegetables, usually from algae. The most commonly used algae for its production are red Agarophyte algae. There are several species of these algae, but there are two in particular that stand out for their high agar-agar content: Gelidium and Gracilaria. Both produce agar with different features, as seen below. 

But to understand the use of these two species, it is necessary to learn a bit of history. Agar was first used in Japan in the 17th century from Gelidium algae (Tengusa in Japanese). At the end of the 19th century, the increase in world consumption made it necessary to find other agar sources. Thus, the Gracilaria species started to be used, although the agar-agar obtained had different characteristics. 

The main difference is its purity. Agar-agar obtained from Gelidium is considered to be of higher quality and, therefore, better raw material.  

On the other hand, the process for obtaining agar-agar is different for each species. Gelidium algae agar does not need to undergo any chemical transformation during the harvesting process, while agar produced from Gracilaria needs a strong alkaline chemical treatment in order to enhance its gelling effect.

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There are also differences in their origin. When Gracilaria algae were first used, they were found naturally in coastal areas of Argentina, Chile, Indonesia and Namibia. Cultivation methods were developed to meet the growing demand for these algae, both in ponds and in the open waters of protected bays. These methods have spread from Chile to other countries such as China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Namibia, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam. Gelidium algae only come from natural beds, mainly from Spain, France, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico, Portugal and the Republic of Korea. On the other hand, unlike Gracilaria algae, which grows easily and has several annual harvests, the Gelidium algae is a small, slow-growing plant with a single annual harvest. Although efforts have been made to cultivate them in tanks and ponds, this was only possible from a biological point of view, because the lack of rocky bottoms and open sea prevents implementing large-scale Gelidium crops in the ocean

Regarding applications, the biggest advantage of  Gelidium or Gracilaria agar is its gel point (the temperature at which it turns into a gel). Gelidium agar gels at a lower temperature, which is essential for microbiology applications. Also, Gelidium is the only species that can guarantee a bacteriological agar, as it grows in natural open beds and lacks growth inhibitors. These differences are not as essential in the food industry. 

Agarmex has a wide range of products from the Gelidium and Gracilaria algae available for food applications, adapting to consumer requirements. Prioritizing the quality of its products, uses exclusively Gelidium algae for all its bacteriological agars. 

Category: Food Agar, Bacto Agar