Locust bean gum

Gomme de caroube

What it is

Only the endosperm of the carob seed becomes gum — husk and germ are milled away first. The seeds are so nearly identical in weight that jewellers, the story goes, used them as their reference grain, which is where the carat took its name; the roasted pod sold as a cocoa substitute is a different product entirely.

In the kitchen

It will not hydrate cold: bring the liquid to 85°C for a minute or the gum stays gritty and thin. Alongside kappa carrageenan it turns a brittle gel elastic and stops it weeping, which is why it sits in nearly every industrial ice cream.

Goes with

Cream Vanilla Coconut milk Yogurt White sugar Dark chocolate Hazelnut Honey

Same species

Carob powder

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us