Our Products


There is a huge range of ingredients used in confectionary, bakery, beverages, dairy, and right across the food industry. What’s great about that is that there is nearly always a product for your needs: hard or soft gels, highly acidic or alcoholic liquids, cold gelling or hot gelling, and so on. But what’s not so great is that it can be confusing to choose the right product. For example, one of my suppliers lists over 600 different modified starches.

However, product selection doesn’t need to be complicated.

My product range is not specialised, but designed to be used across a number of culinary applications. Where possible, or necessary, the ingredients I offer are:

  • Tasteless, odourless, and colourless 
  • GM-free 
  • Kosher and Halal certified

The ingredient product range is split into categories to assist depending on the application and desired result.

  • Thickening
  • Emulsification
  • Foaming 
  • Gellification 
  • Spherification 
  • Flavouring 
  • Freezing 
  • Meat

In addition, a number of tools are offered over the website. I source these tools from a number of speciality suppliers to the medical and scientific industries. They have been selected for their suitability for use in the kitchen, and where possible are:

  • Cheap yet robust 
  • Reusable 
  • Plastic rather than glass for kitchen safety 
  • Heat and freeze resistant

 

THICKENING

Fundamentally, a sauce or liquid is thickened by one of three methods: you either mix it with a thicker liquid, such as a puree; remove some of the  free water, for example when reducing a stock; or you bind the free water to prevent it from moving around, maybe by adding cornstarch then heating.

But what if heating it destroys the flavour, or you need a clear liquid, or it must be of consistent thickness batch after batch?

I offer a range of thickening agents from the Chef’s Lab. Each has its benefits and drawbacks, but by keeping a few of these in the kitchen you’ll be able to achieve exactly the viscosity you’re after.

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XANTHAN GUM

Xanthan gum from the Chef’s Lab has no flavour or colour, and will remain completely transparent. It does not need to be heated, is freeze thaw stable, and is unaffected by alcohol and by the acid present in fruit juice. It’s used at relatively low dosage rates of 0.2 to one per cent, but can be difficult to mix into cold liquid, so I recommend using a Bamix and, where possible, pre-blending with sugar or salt.

It is a natural product of the bacterial fermentation of glucose.

Xanthan has the rheological property of shear-thinning (or pseudoplasticity). Another example is ketchup, which, when sitting in the bottle, can be pretty thick yet will start to flow when you shake the bottle. Xanthan will have the same effect on liquids; that’s why it’s used as a suspending agent in things like mint sauce – if it’s sitting on a shelf, the mint leaves inside the bottle will be suspended in the liquid, but when you tip the bottle to pour the sauce, the liquid will overcome its yield stress and become thinner and easy to pour.

It is perfect for thickening pretty much anything: sweet sauces, pie fillings, jus, cocktails with suspended fruit, yoghurts and especially delicate or pro-biotic foods which would be destroyed if heated. It will also add stability to foams and can help with emulsification by stabilising the oil droplets.

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SOFT XANTHAN BLEND

Xanthan is a very effective thickener but can be difficult to blend into liquids. The Chef’s Lab also offers an alternative thickener called Soft Xanthan which is easier to use when you need to thicken liquids slightly. It is a blend of maltodextrin and xanthan gum.

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GUAR GUM

Guar gum has similar properties to Xanthan. It is used to thicken liquids, retard the formation of ice crystals, prevent the coalescence of oil droplets, and prevent syneresis or weeping of water from frozen liquids or gels. It’s a natural product from milled guar beans.

I’m currently assessing a range of Guar gums for inclusion in the Chef’s lab range, so email me if you are interested in purchasing some, and I can help you select the right one for your particular application.

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CARRAGEENAN

Carrageenan

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IOTA-CARRAGEENAN

Iota-carrageenan forms soft gels.

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KAPPA-CARRAGEENAN

Kappa-carrageena forms hard gels.

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LAMBA-CARRAGEENAN

Lambda-carrageenan forms a protein gel and is best used in dairy applications.

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METHYL CELLULOSE

Methyl cellulose is a natural food gum from cellulosemade is a

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STARCHES

Starches are complex carbohydrates comprising long branched chains, or polymers, of repeating glucose, or saccharide, units. Hence, polysaccharide. There are two types of polysaccharides present in starch; amylose and amylopectin, and it is the relative proportion of each that conveys the particular thickening properties.

Starches are naturally occurring, and are the plant’s mechanism for storing energy. Common sources include wheat (normally called simply flour), corn (corn starch), rye, potato, rice, tapioca, cassava, and other cereals, roots and tubers. There are two types of starch: those that require heat to gelatinise are called cook-up or native starches, and those which have been modified to gelatinise without heating are called instant, cold-gelling or pre-gelatinised starches.

Modified starches are useful if you want to thicken a liquid without heating, for example, a delicate sauce in which the flavour would be destroyed if were heated above 55°C, or a sauce that you want to thicken at room temperature, perhaps for filling a pastry, but thin when heated. Your choice of starch depends on the characteristics of the liquid: is it acidic? Is it going to be blended vigorously? Will it be heated at a later stage? Do you want the viscosity to change when heated?

I offer a range of modified starches to allow you complete control over the thickness of your sauces, fruit preparations, and other liquids.

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NATIONAL 8991

8991 is a modified tapioca starch that is a good choice for a wide range of applications because of its neutral flavour and resistance to heat, acid, and moderate shear. It will thicken instantly when added to cold liquids, so is best pre-blended with sugar or other dry ingredients, and mixed with a Bamix. The final texture is short and smooth.

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TEXTAID A

Textaid A is a modified corn starch used to give the liquid a pulpy or grainy texture. It is easily dispersed in cold water but requires moderate heating to develop the pulpy texture. The texture will be retained throughout subsequent heating. It is not recommended as the sole thickening agent, but can be used with gums such as xanthan to stabilise the pulp in the liquid, or starches such as 8991 to thicken the liquid. It may be used in acidic, fruity conditions, as well as high temperatures.

It’s used to simulate tomato and fruit pulp in beverages and sauces.

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EMULSIFICATION

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Email: mail@creative-juice.com.au | Mobile: 0411 297 167