name: Agar

flavor_db_name_variants: agar

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Agar

id: 284

name_scientific: Eucheuma

description: Agar or agar-agar is a gelatinous substance derived by boiling a polysaccharide in red algae, where it accumulates in the cell walls of agarophyte and serves as the primary structural support for the algae's cell walls. Agar is a mixture of two components: the linear polysaccharide agarose, and a heterogeneous mixture of smaller molecules called agaropectin. Throughout history into modern times, agar has been chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Asia and also as a solid substrate to contain culture medium for microbiological work. Agar (agar-agar) can be used as a laxative, an appetite suppressant, vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in fruit preserves, ice cream, and other desserts, as a clarifying agent in brewing, and for sizing paper and fabrics. The gelling agent is an unbranched polysaccharide obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from the genera Gelidium and Gracilaria. For commercial purposes, it is derived primarily from Gelidium amansii. In chemical terms, agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose.

itis_id: 11923

wikipedia_id: Agar

picture_file_name: 285.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 65839

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:30:09.000Z

legacy_id: 312

food_group: Aquatic foods

food_subgroup: Seaweed

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:30.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:04:21.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: null

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 31444

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00284