Gum Arabic |
| Posted by Abuja (admin) on Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 at 3:55 AM |
Gum Arabic is the dried exudates obtained from the stems and branches of Acacia Senegal (L.) Willedenow or closely related species. It is a natural gum harvested from the exterior of Acacia trees in the form of dry, hard nodules up to 50mm in diameter and ranging from almost colourless to brown.
There are three grades of Gum Arabic produced in Nigeria grade 1(Acacia Senegal), grade 2 (Acacia seyal) and grade 3 (Combretum and other sources).
Although there are over 1,100 Acacia species worldwide, Acacia Senegal and Acacia seyal remain the most commercially exploited species. The Gum Arabic yielding Acacias grow in semi-arid areas. The vast majority of Gum Arabic entering international market originates from the Northern part of West Africa eastwards to Sudan and Ethiopia.
Apart from Nigeria, the countries that belong to the gum growing belt in Africa include Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, Kenya, Mali, Senegal Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger.
In Nigeria, the growing States include Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
Gum Arabic is used extensively in pharmaceutical preparations, inks, pottery pigments, watercolours, wax polishes and liquid gum. It is used for dressing fabrics, giving luster to silk and crepe. It is used for thickening colours and mordants in calico printing.
Gum Arabic is used widely in the confectionery industry where in most cases it has two important functions: (a) to retard sugar crystallization and (b) to emulsify the fat and keep it evely distributed through out the product.
Emulsification properties of Gum Arabic are utilized in various liquid flavour emulsions.Its suspending and stabilizing properties are employed in suspending insoluble drugs and in preventing the precipitation of heavy metals. Its emulsifying property is used for calomine lotion, magnesia and kaolin suspensions and liquid petrolatum and cod liver emulsions.
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