Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Time Traveler

Do you ever wish you could time travel? I do...all the time. Today we won't be traveling to another epoch - sorry to disappoint - but we will be traveling back in time in my blog to a rather short post I wrote during the summer.

Say hello to my first encounter with xanthan gum. You may be wondering what exactly that is. Well, according to Bob's Red Mill:
Xanthan Gum is made from the outer layer of a tiny inactive bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris. It is an excellent all purpose thickener for dressings, gravies and sauces. Its unique ability to hold small particles of food together make it an ideal substitute for gluten in gluten-free baking.
Xanthan gum, starring front centre ;)
I don't do any gluten-free baking but I did hear from several other bloggers that it was the perfect addition to smoothies, especially if you like 'em thick. My first experience with xanthan gum was during the summer and since then I have officially been won over. All I do is add 1/2 tsp (sometimes 1tsp) to my smoothies and BAM! Thickness!!






I'm not even exaggerating when I say I use xanthan gum at least 5/7 days in the week. So it was with great sadness that I finished off the package today. But I was curious...exactly how long did the package last me? Here comes the art of time traveling.

*Enter Twilight Zone Theme Music*

It's actually quite simple and rather unimpressive :P. After a quick search on my blog I saw that my first post on xanthan gum dated back to July 24th of this year. So, that means the package (which was 1/2 price at the time of purchase...woo hoo!) lasted me a full 4 months. Not bad if I say so myself!

I'm actually not that sad though because I still have another package in the cupboard ;).

As a random side note, my friends Nick and Lance just did a cover of the song One Thing Remains by Jesus Culture. Check it out!!!

3 comments:

  1. I'm so scared to try that stuff! Something about it being from bacteria gives me the hebbie jebbies even though it shouldn't. I'll probably cave to get some because I'm sick of adding half a bag of ice to my smoothies to make them thick because then they get icy! GAH!

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  2. I've always wondered about xanthan gum- I am totally trying it now!
    While we're on the topic of gum, I was toasting blueberry bagels for the kids the other day for morning snack, and I noticed some not-so-natural looking blue pieces in the bagels, so I decided to scan the ingredient list. The ingredient responsible for the blue pieces(and I quote) was "blueberry gum bits." Yikes. End anecdotal reference.

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  3. I know what you mean Britt...I did the mistake of googling it and seeing what it looks like when they infest plants. I actually just try ignoring that whole part and tell myself that it's a powder just like flour. Self-deceit. haha.

    And blueberry gum bits??? That's actually wrong. Gum bits should not be in bagels. What is happening to this world? :P

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