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The gum, locally called Dhavda
when first exuded is in a soft plastic form. The colour varies
from whitish yellow to amber depending on factors like the proximity of
the tear to the bark, the length of time it has remained on the tree before
being picked and the age of the product in storage.
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Krystal Colloids processes Gum Ghatti as follows: hand picking and sorting, removal of adhering bark and sand and cleaning, grinding, sizing and blending to obtain uniform grades of Gum. Our final product for export is either in lump form or powder where the gum is sized to 150 mesh or finer. During the process of particle breakdown, impurities are removed from the gum by sifting, aspiration and density table separation. Powdered Ghatti is light tan in colour and has bland taste and practically no odour. Gum Ghatti is a complex polysaccharide of high molecular weight. It occurs in nature as a mixed calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium salt. Complete hydrolysis has shown that it is composed of L-arabinose, D-galactose, D-mannose, D-xylose and D-glucoronic acid in a molar ratio of 10:6:2:1:2 plus traces less than 1% of 6-deoxyhexose. Gum Ghatti does not dissolve
in water to give a clear solution but rather over 90% of the gum disperses
in water to form a colloidal dispersion. At the same time it does not form
a true gel. It forms viscous solutions at concentrations of about 5% or
higher and exhibits typical non-Newtonian behaviour. Gum Ghatti is a moderately
viscous gum lying intermediate between Arabic and Karaya. This viscosity
profile gives it a unique status in the spectrum of hydrocolloids. The
emulsifying properties of Gum Ghatti are excellent and considered to be
better than Gum Arabic and thus used in more difficult-to- handle systems
The normal pH of the dispersion is 4.8. Gum Ghatti solutions are sensitive
to alkali.Viscosity increases sharply with pH upto a maximum at about pH
8 and above that the solutions tend to become stringy. At all pHs, upon
aging viscosity increases noticeably over time. The addition of sodium
salts (sodium carbonate, sodium chloride) produces a typical viscosity
reducing effect of simple electrolytes on a polymer.Gum Ghatti solutions
require preservatives since they are subject to bacterial attack. They
are easily preserved with a mixture of a maximum of 0.17% methyl and 0.03%
propyl o-hydroxybenzoate as well as with glycerin and propylene glycol.
Benzoic acid, sodium acid as well as sodium benzoate at 0.1% concentration
are effective preservatives.
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Gum
Ghatti | Gum
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©2001 Krystal Colloids All Rights Reserved |
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The
exudates are hand picked by the locals, mostly tribal and laid to dry in
the sun for several days. This picking activity is the root cause of the
heterogeneity in commercial Gum Ghatti. The locals pick the gums not tree-wise
but area-wise and so mix the gums of a large variety of locally growing
trees. So hand sorting of individual lots becomes a necessity
