Xanthan Gum trying out ideas.

[forge]

I have tried a few ideas using Xanthan Gum some were good and one was a dud.

First the dud, I tried to make egg custard and use the X to thicken it but it did not work.

X gum, it seems, does not thicken anything. What it will do is hold thickeners in suspension.

So what I did next was pour a half a mug of milk then stir in less than 1/4 teaspoon (hard to measure) of X gum then I added coconut flour while stirring and it thickened. It is a bit gritty and not smooth like cornflour custard. I sweetened it and added vanilla essence and some more milk.

It tasted nice like gritty (not lumpy) coconut custard it would be good with lo carb cake and diet jelly as a trifle.

Alternatively I expect the texture might improve with added cream.

The bread rolls with 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 wheat flour were good.

I also put some in chocolate rum balls without the rum, then I read the warning to not use too much or it will get a slimy feel when you chew. Mine was okay but I will use less next time.

I made some frozen yogurt nutty slice with choc bits and cut up glace cherries and put some X gum in that. It is a bit rich and I will treat it as a treat or maybe part of a desert with the custard.or cream

I am keen to learn all I can about using X gum so any hints are welcome.

Recipes are good too but I find it more fun adapting what I have without buying new weird stuff. Coconut flour almond meal and Xanthan gum are my odd ball ingredients. I hope to work out how to use them before taking on anything new.

 

[mo53]

I dont really know what xantham gum is. Yiur recipes sound interesting.

 

[forge]

I dont really know what xantham gum is. Yiur recipes sound interesting.

Thanks @mo53

Wikipedia explains it better than I can. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthan_gum

All we really need to know is we can buy it in small packs, mine is 100 gm and it makes wet nut flours sticky and gooey like wet wheat flour so the nut flours stay together to make dough and can thicken stews etc and batters that stick.

We have all eaten it.and cleaned our teeth with it and women have put it on their faces and lips and it has never had bad press.

It keeps oils and solids in suspension in liquids typically mayonnaise and therefore makes it thick but if you give it a good shake it will pour.

It is a powder and our big decision is how much to use. Too much and it sort of feels slimy when we chew and not enough and it does not do the job.

The decision is usually 2 teaspoons max but more often less than a teaspoon. I teaspoon of X gum per cup of flour is a good maximum guide.

From wiki
It is produced by thefermentation of glucose, sucrose, or lactose. After a fermentation period, thepolysaccharide is precipitated from a growth medium with isopropyl alcohol, dried, and ground into a fine powder. Later, it is added to a liquid medium to form the gum.

So there is nothing scary about it and if it was going to kill us we would all be dead by now.

I used to make wine for competition and I always found more than one type of fruit in a wine worked out better taste-wise so continuing in that tradition I have been using a 3 flour mix 1/3 wheat, 1/3 coconut, 1/3 almond meal Because coconut expands so much when wet this works out as 1 part wheat + two part coconut + 1 part almond ie wheat = 25% so you can work the carbs back from there.

All this lo carbing is not cheap if we want a good food variety, so I bought bulk coconut flour and bulk almond flour from a wholesaler and I found the X gum in our local supermarket with the gluten free stuff.

So I am now committed to using it.

3kg is a lot of almond meal/flour and 25 lb of coconut flour is a sack so it is prob a years supply or more. The coconut flour was less than 1/3 the supermarket price and a saving of $150 Australian the X gum is $5 or $6 Australian.

For me and my adult son lo carb experimental cooking is a lot of fun, searching for recipes and converting them. But now I am committed to two or three flours and one binding agent. The third flour is wheat flour in 3 flour mix and the binding agent is X gum. My son (home temporarily) and my wife and I all eat lo carb at least one meal per day and we make lo carb cakes and muffins and sweets.

We have all lost weight, my son does not need to lose any more so he is starting to eat more snacks with carbs, my wife has lost 6 or 7kg and I have lost 15 or 16kg but I still need to lose another 7KG . That will take me down to the low 80s.

Lo carbing needs to be made fun, we have never eaten so many cakes.and sweets. We are not eating more protein we are just pigging out on alternative flour and veg. But I am eating less, I have lost my raging hunger and thirst I have to remember to drink more now.

It would be good to have other experimental cooks sharing their experiences with lo carb cooking and baking.