... is the dried gummy exudation from the Indian Sterculia urens tree or the African Sterculia setifera. The bark of the tree is stripped in small seductions to induce the gum flow. The pieces vary in size and color, with predominantly yellow, pinkish, and brown translucent crystalline pieces. Pieces of tree bark and other admixtures are typically found in the gum, and this darkens the color and increases the necessity of sorting the gum based upon cleanliness. Karaya gum will have something of an acetic acid smell and taste based upon the acetyl bonds that are an unusual feature of its hydrocolloidal structure.
Karaya gum swells in water to form a sticky, hypo-allergenic gel which makes it the gum of choice for colostomy rings and denture adhesives. In Europe and Japan, it is widely used as an active ingredient in laxatives, and there are still some remnants of the once considerable use of gum karaya in food products, such as ice cream stabilizers. Gum karaya quality is assessed based upon its thickening power (viscosity) and purity (lack of BFOM - bark and foreign organic matter).
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