HIGHLY VISCOUS GUM GUAIAC AND ITS PRODUCTION

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a highly viscous gum guaiac having viscosity characteristics in several times as much as that of a conventional gum guaiac, excellent in water-dispersibility and handleability, and useful in a food field or the like by heating the gum guaiac having loss on drying less than a prescribed value within a prescribed range of a temperature. SOLUTION: This highly viscous gum guaiac providing 1.0% aqueous solution expressed in terms of the gum guaiac concentration and having >=1,000 mPa.s viscosity (measured by a B-type viscometer at 6 rpm at 5 deg.C) is obtained by heating a gum guaiac having <=50 wt.% loss on drying (under a normal pressure at 105 deg.C for 5 hr) in an inert gas or under a reduced pressure of a gas at 105-125 deg.C for 10 sec to 6 hr. The 1.0% aqueous solution of the highly viscous gum guaiac becomes homogeneous solution without causing sedimentation after preserving the solution for two weeks at a room temperature. The highly viscous gum guaiac is preferably produced by heating the gum guaiac in a state dispersed in an inert solvent not dissolving the gum guaiac.