Espina Corona (Gleditsia amorphoides) Seed Gum

Espina Corona gum (ECG) is a galactomannan extracted from the seeds of Espina Corona (Gleditsia amorphoides), a leguminous tree native of Latin America. This chapter reviews the rheological properties of ECG as a function of temperature, ionic strength, and pH as well as its interaction with some commercial hydrocolloids. In addition, applications of ECG in different food systems like emulsions, foams, and gels are discussed. The study of viscoelastic behavior is important since almost all foods exhibit some viscous and some elastic behavior simultaneously. Viscoelastic properties can be determined by dynamic methods applying a small sinusoidal strain (or stress) and measuring the resulting stress (or strain). Food colloids are multi‐phase systems containing particles or other structures with characteristic spatial dimensions in the colloidal size range. Gelation is a very important functional property of hydrocolloids since gelling agents are extensively used in products like jam, jelly, marmalade, restructured foods, and low‐sugar/low‐calorie gels.