Agarmex

Do you recognize what you eat? The new trend of ‘Clean Labeling’

More and more people are becoming aware of their diet and its impact on their health. Therefore, it is important for consumers to be able to read a product label and understand what ingredients it is made of. This change in consumption habits has led to the emergence and growth of a trend known as “clean labeling.”

This clean label entails that, when producing our foods, we choose to use natural, healthy, easily identifiable ingredients and avoid additives and complicated labeling.

This poses a significant challenge for the food industry, which must reformulate to adapt to a label that is as simple and natural as possible, without compromising sensory quality, safety, and product quality, as much as possible, regardless of cost.

In this vein, Agarmex supplies food-grade agar to the industry. It is a seaweed extract that can modify the texture of the final product according to the manufacturer’s needs without altering its color, smell, and taste.

This natural vegetable-based gelling agent allows for replacing other additives with texturizing or emulsifying functions in formulations while promoting the aforementioned clean label.

If a product contains E406, consumers are less likely to associate it with agar-agar, leading to distrust. However, if it is labeled as agar-agar, the reaction will be the opposite – positive, as it is a well-known ingredient with a good reputation.

If you are looking to develop new recipes or reformulate existing ones and want to experiment with agar-agar, do not hesitate to contact the sales department for advice.

AGAR AS AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT IN VEGAN YOGURTS AND CHEESES 

Traditionally, nuts, soybeans and vegetable oils have been used to produce vegan cheese. But, as is almost always the case with this type of food, the problem lies in achieving the final consistency of the non-vegan product. To address this problem, agar is the ideal strategic ingredient, as it replaces rennet and produces a range of textures, from soft to hard.  

In addition, the use of agar will add nutritional benefits to the recipe and it combines perfectly with nuts. Agar is not only used in the preparation of homemade cheese, it is increasingly common to find industrially produced vegan cheeses on the market that contain agar as a main ingredient. 

There are many recipes for making vegan cheese and many varieties can be replicated. You can find a range of vegan versions of cheese, from “hard” cheddar to semi-soft cheeses such as mozzarella, feta and Brie. Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the range of cheese spread recipes. QSol Soft Agar is perfect for making this last variety of cheese. 

But it’s not just vegan cheese recipes that have consistency problems. In traditional vegan yogurt recipes, the final product is often more liquid than desired and, thanks to its gelling effect, agar is ideal to prevent this problem. 

HYSTERESIS OF AGAR: A CULINARY ALLY 

Hysteresis temperature in gels refers to a phenomenon in which the physical properties of a gel, such as its viscosity, elasticity or stiffness, can vary depending on whether the temperature increases or decreases. 

This phenomenon may occur because gels are complex systems that can interact with temperature in different ways. For example, the gel molecular structure can change when the gel heats up, which can affect its physical properties, such as its viscosity or elasticity. Similarly, when the gel cools down, it may undergo changes in its structure and physical properties. 

Hysteresis temperature is a common phenomenon in many types of gels. Agar has the highest hysteresis of all hydrocolloids. Once dissolved in water at a 1-1.5% concentration, the solution forms a gel when cooled to 34-38°C, and this gel only melts when heated to 85-90°C. 

This allows the solution to solidify easily at room temperature without refrigeration, therefore this gel can be heated again, making it stable at quite high temperatures. Curiously, this enables to have agar solutions in the range of 35-85ºC, either in liquid or gel state. 

A clear example in which we observe this useful property of agar is when cooking, since it allows us to maintain, for example, frostings or toppings with a solidified and stable appearance even in warm spaces.

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

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