Guar

Guar bean Cyamopsis tetragonolobus

The guar bean ( Cyamopsis tetragonolobus ), also known as guar, is a crop from the legume family ( Fabaceae or Leguminosae ) subfamily Fabaceae ( Faboideae ). It is closely related with a number of other " beans " called crops.

Description

The guar plant reaches a height of up to two meters. The plant produces about 10 cm long pulses with oval, about 5 mm seeds.

Dissemination

The guar bean has probably originated in India, but perhaps also in Central Africa. The main growing areas are in India and Pakistan. You possibly descended from the wild plant Cyamopsis senegalensis.

Use

The leaves and fresh pods are eaten as a vegetable, the whole plant is used as green fodder. The dried seeds are processed both eaten as well as to guar gum (similar to acacia). The most important product of the plant is the guar gum ( E 412; Also: guar, guar gum ), which is used for the production of polysaccharides guar gum. Guar gum is used as a thickening agent for a wide variety of foods. To the outer layers and the germ are separated from the seed before it is milled.

A functionally similar food additive class of galactomannans provides the carob tree.

A technical application of guar gum is the production of thickeners for oil and gas extraction ( fracking ).