Gelling Pectin - AVAILABLE EARLY 2024
Extracta Pectin is a key natural gelling agent that is commonly used in vegan and vegetarian pastry. It's a different dietary fibre that allows manufacturers to gel and stabilise recipes like compotes.
At Extracta, our range of high-quality sustainable pectins are derived primarily from apple pomace and citrus peels, upcycling natural resources.
Pectins have a neutral taste and no sweetening power, meaning they are a 100% functional ingredient that allows us to maximise the flavour of other components in the recipe, without covering them up.
Here are mainly two types of pectins depending on the treatment that the fibre underwent:
- High methoxyl (or HM) pectins which are extracted directly from the fruit and need a high amount of sugar and a low pH in order to gel.
- Low methoxyl (or LM) pectins that have been treated either with acid or alkali substances so that they gel in the presence of calcium ions without the necessity of using large amounts of sugar.
On a molecular level, pectins belong to the polysaccharide group, they are a type of soluble fibre that is used as a gelling agent and often replaces gelatin in plant-based recipes. In fact, pectins are found naturally in fruits and we use them to make jams and marmalades with quince, citrus or blackberries, all of which have a high content of this fibre. Pectins help us control the free water in the recipe, by trapping it in a three-dimensional network. By doing so, they create a semi-solid texture that we call “gel”.
Extracta is proudly re-establishing a lost industry in Australia, with new manufacturing sites on the horizon - Australian-produced pectin will be back on our shores.
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