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When you call our Gum Guru technical service line, you need your question answered quickly. You can help our technical staff provide you the fastest service by having the following information available:

1. Know the pH level of your product.
2. Know all the ingredients in your product and, if possible, the ratios that are used.
3. Remember that gums need water for hydration; recipes using small amounts of water will not allow for proper hydration.
4. In some situations, it may be easier to hydrate the gum by mixing all the dry ingredients together and adding this mixture to rapidly agitating water. Keep in mind that salts, acids and other ingredients may compete with the gum for water at this stage.
5. When dry blending ingredients, allow for a 5:1 ratio of dry ingredients to gums.
6. Note that although gums bind water, they do not reduce water activity (i.e., spoilage, etc.)
7. When formulating, make sure to consult the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for product identity and process requirements. Other helpful resources for new food manufacturers can be found at rutgers.com and FDA.gov.

1. Gum arabic and gum acacia are different names for the same gum.
2. Locust bean gum and carob bean gum are different names for the same gum.
3. Xanthan gum is sometimes incorrectly referred to as xanthum or zanthan.