Meaning & use
gum arabic
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A sticky natural substance collected from certain acacia trees, which dissolves in water and is used to thicken or bind other ingredients.
Grammar: No plural and no an or an: some gum arabic.
Patterns
- thicken something with gum arabic
- made with gum arabic
Soft drink makers add gum arabic to keep flavor oils evenly mixed with the water.
The painter ground her pigments with gum arabic to make watercolor paint.
Most of the world's gum arabic comes from trees that grow across the dry belt of Africa.
noununcountable
An ingredient in sweets, glue, and printing that gives a smooth, glossy, or sticky finish.
Grammar: Often appears in ingredient lists, sometimes labeled E414.
Patterns
- coated with gum arabic
- gum arabic in sweets
The label showed that the fruit gums were glazed with gum arabic.
Old postage stamps used a layer of gum arabic as adhesive.
Print shops once used gum arabic to protect the surface of metal plates.
Common combinations
- powdered gum arabic
- Stir the powdered gum arabic into warm water until it dissolves.
- gum arabic solution
- Brush a thin gum arabic solution over the drawing to protect it.
- gum arabic as a stabilizer
- Manufacturers use gum arabic as a stabilizer in fizzy drinks.
- harvest gum arabic
- Farmers harvest gum arabic by cutting the bark and collecting the dried sap.
- gum arabic binder
- The gum arabic binder holds the pigment to the paper.
Synonyms and how they differ
- acacia gum
- Acacia gum is another name for the same substance and is common on food labels, while gum arabic is the more traditional name.
- gum acacia
- Gum acacia is a variant of the same name, preferred in some scientific and chemical contexts.
- resin
- Resin is a broader and usually harder tree product that does not dissolve in water, unlike gum arabic.
Word family
Commonly confused: gum arabic or chewing gum? gum arabic or gum tragacanth?
gum arabic vs chewing gum
Chewing gum is a sweet you chew, now usually made from synthetic rubber; gum arabic is a natural tree sap used as an ingredient.
gum arabic vs gum tragacanth
Gum tragacanth is a similar plant gum from a different shrub, used in some of the same ways but costlier.
Practice
A food scientist wants a natural ingredient that keeps flavor oil mixed evenly into a soft drink. Which ingredient would suit this?
Choose one answer.
Gum arabic acts as a stabilizer and emulsifier in drinks. Salt, baking soda, and citric acid change taste or acidity but do not hold oil and water together.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gum arabic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.