More about culinary ingredients: Thickeners/thickening agents

Traditional thickening agents As explained previously, both proteins and carbohydrates can act as thickening agent. The long starch molecules and the long strands of denatured proteins act to interfere with the movement of the water molecules, reducing their ability to flow, so thickening the liquid.

How long stranded molecules thicken liquids Proteins as traditional thickening agent The proteins that have been used most commonly as thickeners are either the proteins present in blood (which is how blood pudding is thickened) or in egg yolks (which is how custards are thickened). However, protein is a very delicate thickening agent is the sauce is heated to too high a temperature, the proteins risk to join together and form lumps, which may give the thickened sauce a lumpy of grainy texture. Carbohydrates The food ingredient containing carbohydrates and most commonly used to thicken sauces is flour. However using flour as a thickening agent is associated with several disadvantages. In particular, flour does not dissolve in cold water, as can be seen pouring one water drop on flour: it rolls. When flour is poured in hot water, it form lumps, the external layer of flour lumps forming a gel, which prevents water to come into the lump (water can flow in, but very slowly). In order to disperses starch granules from flour in water, one can either pour flour very slowly to hot water, or to heat a paste made from flour and water, and add more an more water. In both cases, amylose molecules from starch granules dissolves into hot water, and water molecules can go in between the amylopectin of starch granules, making them swell. Under the microscope, these swollen granules can easily be observed. Also, flour contains quite a significant amount of proteins, which is responsible both for the desired taste producing Maillard reactions and the unwanted formation of a skin and a higher risk of a burnt pan. The newer thickening agents These traditional thickening agents are gradually getting replaced by more flexible and easy to use thickening agents, such as different non protein containing flours and extracts from seaweed or produced by fermentation.

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Flours Non protein containing flours have the advantages of not forming lumps and a skin on cooking and not forming tough doughs like bread due to absence of a gluten network. However the absence of proteins will reduce the number of Maillard reactions that can occur to produce flavour. It is possible to buy protein free wheat flour, but due to the slightly floury taste it has, protein free flours from other plant sources are preferred. Corn starch and rice starch are both obtained from breaking up the grains of the plants from which they are derived, in a similar way to wheat flour, which is obtained by breaking up the grains of the wheat plant. These flours tend to have fairly large starch granules, which have a fairly strong structure that require a fairly high temperature to be gelatinised. They also contain relatively high amounts of amylose which makes them thicken fairly quickly as the amylose is released, and cause them to set on cooling. Corn starch and rice starch do not contain any proteins, so are more pure is starch, and therefore more efficient at thickening, than wheat flour. Potato starch differs from these grain starches because the starch is derived from the plants root or tuber. The starch grains are larger, and they absorb more water and release starch at lower temperatures. Also, their amylose molecules are much longer than in grain starches, so are more effective at thickening. Due to their ability to thicken fairly quickly, they are often added to correct sauces at the last minute they thicken quickly and do not need pre-cooking in a roux to improve their flavour (unlike the starch in wheat flour which has a very floury taste and is usually pre-cooked to improve its taste). However, because potato granules are more fragile, they are more easily broken up, so a sauce thickened with potato starch will thin more easily. To improve the dispersion of the potato starch in the sauce, preventing lumps, the starch is often pre-mixed with butter to aid dispersion in the sauce as the butter melts. All these thickening agents however, need to be heated to thicken. This limits their use to sauces that are not affected by heating. Fresh herb purees, and gazpacho, for example, cannot be thickened by these agents without cooking the preparation, which has led to an increased interest in cold effective thickeners, including the alginates and the gums. Seaweeds As explained previously, most gelling agents, in certain conditions, will act as thickeners. For example, alginates, in the absence of calcium, will act as a thickener. A small quantity of alginate (0.4 %) will thicken a sauce without the need for heating, however very strong mixing is required to dissolve the alginate, which is fairly time consuming. If the preparation is not sufficiently mixed, the alginate molecules may join together and form lumps giving the sauce an undesirable texture. Gums Recently, a family of compounds called gums became popular. These are derived from plants and are generally complex carbohydrates made of different sugar molecules. They are used as thickeners, emulsifiers and sometimes gelling agents, and help to improve the consistency of frozen products. These gums include Arabic gum (extracted from the Acacia tree), Guar gum (extracted from the seeds of a bean plant); locust bean gum (extracted from the seeds of the carob tree); and xanthan and gellan gum, produced by certain fermentation bacteria. Among these gums, guar gum and gellan gum are the most interesting. Guar gum: Guar gum is extremely water soluble, and will thicken any liquid sauce at a very low concentration (0.5 %) within a matter of minutes. It can be added in the presence of acid, salt and sugar without affecting its thickening ability, and does not give a noticeable taste to the sauce. An aromatic liquid stock can be transformed into a thick sauce, ideal for decorating plates, in just a few minutes. Gellan gum: Gellan gum is also very interesting. It acts as a thickener when added to a cold liquid, and will actually form a clear gel with good flavour release on heating, unlike all the other gelling agents (who tend to melt on heating).

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