Carrageenan is a very important ingredient that is added to a number of food items and to the medicines. We shall now study the making of this in detail. We will understand the whole process. The Carrageenan is made with the help of two processes that are as followed
The first method – This is one of the oldest and one of the best method. This method was used from 1970s to the early 1980s. At that time the extraction of Carrageenan was done by making use of the seaweed and then it was immersed aqueous solution. The residue of the seaweed was removed with the help of purification and then Carrageenan was extracted from this solution. This gave useful and good results.
In the second method- In this method the extraction of the Carrageenan is not done by making use of the seaweed. By this process everything is washed out from the seaweed and then it finally mix in alkali and water and that gets left behind is Carrageenan and other things that have not got dissolved. This process is both small and also cost less as compared to the original result. The extraction is of fine quality and gives good results. Only the Refined Carrageenan can be considered to be the original form of Carrageenan. It is also very good in quality.
The washing of the seaweed is done in order to make sure that all the sand, salt and various other foreign materials are removed. Then the water containing alkali is heated for a number of hours. It is necessary to make use of the Alkali because with the help of it the chemical change happens that helps in adding more strength to the final result is that there is more strength in the final product. If talking in the terms of chemistry then it helps in the removing of the sulphate groups from the molecules and helps in the increase of the formation of 3,6-AG. The more will be the amount of left behind the stronger will be the gel. The removal of the insoluble seaweed is done with the help of the centrifugation or not very fine filtration, or combination. The filtration of the solution is done with the help of the pressure filter with the help of the filter aid. With the help of this the filter cloth does not gets blocked. After you have got the final product you can make use of it as you want to. The two most popular industries that make use of this product are the food industry and the medicine industry. In the food industry there are a number of food items that make use of it. The taste and the texture that it adds to the food make the food likable and selling more. One of the products that use most of this item is ice cream. It gives the right texture and color to the item. The taste is added because of the chemical composition and not because of the taste of the Carrageenan. It is because Carrageenan originally has no taste of its own.
