Carrageenans Application Function

cookie might get made in Texas, trucked across the country in the middle of the summer, sit in a warehouse for a couple of weeks before it is sold and then ride home in the trunk of your car.

Carrageenans (E407) are a family of linear, sulphated polysaccharides extracted from red seaweeds. The name is derived from a type of seaweed that is abundant along the Irish coastline near the village of Carrageenan. Gelatinous extracts of carrageen seaweed (also known as Irish moss) have been used as food additives for hundreds of years.

There are three main commercial classes of carrageenan:
Kappa – strong, rigid gels. Produced from Kappaphycus cottonii
Iota – soft gels. Produced from Eucheuma spinosum
Lambda – form gels when mixed with proteins rather than water, used to thicken dairy products. The most common source is Gigartina from Southern Europe.

The reason why a normal cook usually does not need to use things like carrageenan or xanthan gum is because the food a normal cook makes gets eaten quickly and is not mistreated.

All are soluble in hot water, but in cold water only the Lambda form (and the sodium salts of the other two) are soluble.

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When used in elsachem products.

APPLICATION FUNCTION
Chocolate milk: Cocoa suspension and mouth feel.
Ham injection: Improve succulence, yield and slice ability.
Nappage: Provides a transparent flexible glaze that eliminates syneresis.
Hot fill Dairy dessert:  Gelling agent and syneresis control. Provides body and creaminess.
Instant mousse: Viscosity control, improves foam structure and body.
Thickened milk drinks: Suspends insoluble materials, improves mouthfeel and helps stabilise emulsions. food thickeners.
Oil free dressings: Suspends particulates, improves texture and mouth feel.
Ice Cream & Sorbet: Whey off protection. Texture modification.
Flans: Gelling agent and syneresis control.
Processed cheese: Gelling agent. Allows reduction in dairy protein levels. Cost reduction.
Ground meat emulsions: Improves succulence and yield. Prevents shrinkage upon cooking.

You boil the seaweed to extract the carrageenan. In that sense, carrageenan is completely "natural" -- it's not much different from tomato paste in its creation.