Persian Gum: A Novel Natural Hydrocolloid

Over the past few decades, scientists have paid special attention to studying novel and natural hydrocolloids due to the growing demand for ready meals, public awareness on the importance of natural fibers in daily diets, and their wide range of application, especially in foods, pharmaceuticals and herbal medicine. Moreover, natural hydrocolloids are preferred to biotechnologic ones (e.g., gellan, xanthan and curdlan) as they are usually non-toxic, natural, biodegradable, biocompatible and ecologically friendly. Persian gum (PG) is one of these natural hydrocolloids, which has been introduced and studied on mostly by the author and some other researchers during the past few years. The author attempted to name it Persian gum, representing its origin the Persia or Iran, as the competitor of the very well-known “gum Arabic”, the exudate of acacia trees (Acacia senegal or Acacia seyal). Its botanical source, physicochemical, structural, rheological, functional properties, interaction with other macromolecules (proteins and polysaccharides), and possible applications in foodstuffs have been extensively reviewed (1–4).