ABOUT AGAR
關(guān)于瓊脂
Agar is a polysaccharide extracted from seaweed, which is one of the most widely used seaweed gel in the world. Agar is a hydrophilic colloid, insoluble in cold water, soluble in boiling water. Agar has coagulability and stability, and can be used as thickener, coagulant, suspending agent, emulsifier, preservative and stabilizer. Even if the concentration of AGAR is as low as 1%, it can form a stable gel, which is a necessary raw material for food industry, chemical industry and medical research.
Agar is rich in dietary fiber, high in protein content and low in calories. It has the functions of detoxifying and nourishing the skin, clearing heat, lowering blood pressure, lowering blood sugar and anti-cancer effects. Agar is recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a healthy food for the 21st century. It is also recognized as a safe product by the United States Food and Drug Administration and is approved for inclusion in the food chemical pharmacopoeia as a food additives.
Agar is widely used to make many kinds of beverages, jelly, ice cream, cakes, soft sweets, can, meat products, soup food, cold food and so on. Add agar and water at 1:50 or so, bring to a boil and stir slightly before eating. Cool before eating, taste is better. Also can add water 100 times to boil the product into liquid, then add white sugar or other spices, stir to cool and firm before eating.
Food industry:
1. As a suspending agent, agar has the characteristics of good transparency, good fluidity and smooth taste without peculiar smell. Use the concentration of 0.01-0.05%, can make the particles in the beverage suspension uniform, not sinking. It is characterized by long suspension time and shelf life, which can not be replaced by other suspending agents.
2. Beer clarifier — Agar is used as an auxiliary clarifier to accelerate and improve clarification.
3. Soft sweets — Use about 2.5% agar, glucose liquid and sugar, the transparency and taste are better than other soft sweets.
4. Canned meat, meat products — Use about 0.2-0.5% agar to form a gel that effectively binds ground meat.
5. Cold food — Wash the agar first, brew it with boiling water to make it swell, pick up the ingredients and eat it.
6. Jelly — Use about 0.1-0.3% agar and refined galactomannan, can be made into a transparent strong elastic gel.
Agar can be used in chemical industry, medical research, culture medium and other applications.
Chemical industry:
1. Microbial culture medium — As a bacterial culture medium, agar has a very good effect in terms of hardness and bleeding, as well as the amount of bacteria grown and the large form of colonies. When agar concentration is 1.5%, it is a clear liquid. When it cools to below 43°C, it forms a hard gel, and it doesn't melt when heated below 85°C. Agar is commonly used in microbial culture, tissue culture, biofilm materials, etc. It can be used as a substrate for bacterial culture medium such as edible fungus in scientific research institutes or bacterial factories.
2. Gel electrophoresis — Agarose is an uncharged neutral component of agar. It can be used as a support for gel electrophoresis and a carrier for affinity chromatography. It can also be used in medicine to study the isolation, purification and isolation of viral phage, bacteria, clinical tests, biochemical analysis, proteins, nucleic acids, antigens, antibodies, polysaccharide separation, purification and separation.
3. Cream base, tablet adhesive and pharmaceutical capsules — Agar can be used as a non-oily cream base to prolong the effect of the drug.
4. Cosmetics — Agar can be used as a gel or a paste to stabilize and not easy to mildew.
Storage method:
Agar should be stored in a dry and ventilated place. Keeping the temperature between 18℃ and 25℃ can increase the shelf life of AGAR. If the storage temperature is too low for a long time, the gel strength will decrease. Agar should not be stored with odorous substances.