DESCRIPTION -
Gond Katira is a natural gum obtained from the dried sap of several species of legumes in the Middle Eastern genus Astragalus. The gum is sometimes called Shiraz gum, Shiraz, elect gum, or dragon gum. It is a tree gum like myrrh, but is less common in products than other gums, such as guar gum or gum arabic.
Gond Katira is a viscous, odorless, tasteless, water-soluble mixture of polysaccharides obtained from the sap drained from the plant's roots and dried. The gum seeps from the plant in twisted ribbons or flakes that can be pulverized. It absorbs water to become a gel, which can be stirred into a paste.
The main fractions are known as tragacanthine, which is highly soluble in water as a mucilaginous colloid, and the chemically related bassorine, which is much less soluble but swells in water to form a gel.

PREPARATION AND USE –

• Gondh Katira is used as a paste in modern burn treatment.
• Gond katira is primarily used in beverages, processed cheese, salad toppings, food dressings, and various desserts, as it is both tasty and has incredible cooling properties.
• In addition, in the food sector, it acts as a stabilizer, texture additive, and emulsifier.
• As a thickener in sauces, sweets, salad toppings, ice cream, etc.
• It is frequently used in the production of artist's pastels due to its property of not sticking when drying like other gums.

THE HEALTH BENEFITS –
Gondh Katira serves several health benefits like preventing heart attacks, good for pregnant women, urinary lust, provides energy, good for lactating mothers, skin and beauty benefits, good for constipation.

NUTRITIONAL VALUES – per 100g

• Energy - 1296kj
• Energy – 310Kcal
• Fat – 2.6g
• Of which saturated – 1.2g
• Carbohydrates – 69.9g
• Of which sugars – 0.0g
• Protein – 1.72 g
• Salt – 0.02g