What do you add to the soup if it’s too runny and light? You may add cornstarch or liaison as a thickener so that your soup is thicker. Liaison is a mixture of cream or milk and egg yolks in a 1:3 ratio which is beaten until pale and thick. You also add some ingredients to the sauce to make it thicker, right? There is a roux which is a mixture of butterfat, margarine, shortening, chicken fat, meat dipping, and flour through a cooking process. Your sauce or soup becomes more delicious and appetizing after adding the roux to the cold broth.

On the other hand, liquid soap without thickener will not be your loyal mate when bathing. You need hydroxyethyl cellulose to thicken your homemade liquid soap. Likewise with the paint that you will apply to the walls and the whole surface of the building. Paint requires a thickener to produce a certain viscosity, maintaining the stability of the emulsion so that the liquid and the filler do not separate.

Thickener Which is More Widely Known in the Food Industry

The food industry cannot be separated from thickeners. Thickeners are easily obtained from nature such as from grains, roots, and flour. Thickeners are useful in bringing together two or more materials so that the final product meets quality standards. Among the types of thickeners that are often found in the food industry are:

• Egg. This favorite thickener contains the enzyme amylase which can break down amylose starch. This starch prevents eggs from being fully cooked when they reach high temperatures. This is risky for bakery entrepreneurs and other food industries that use eggs. In its production, eggs in sauce or custard must be cooked until bubbles appear to kill enzymes that can break down starch.
• Gelatin. It is widely used in the food industry as a raw material for ice cream, soft candy, jelly, and many other commercial products. Gelatin is naturally found in the bones or skins of animals such as pigs, cattle, and fish.
• Sugar. The expected thickness of a food product can be adjusted by adding a sufficient amount of sugar to the dough.
• Rice starch. It has twice the thickener content of wheat flour. The soft and crumbly texture must be a distinctive form of bread with rice starch thickener.
• Grain thickening agent. There are two thickening agents from grains that are very familiar to us. There are wheat flour and cornflour which both have their respective differences. The best thickener comes from low-protein wheat flour because it contains more starch. While corn starch is known as a custard thickener mixed with a small amount of liquid to prevent clumping.
• Thickener derived from roots. There are at least three types of thickener derived from roots. One of which is tapioca which comes from cassava it is a thickener for pies and other snacks. Then, there is tropical tuber starch from South America where this starch is twice as thick as ordinary flour. Meanwhile, soft bread can be produced from the addition of sweet potato flour which contains 8% protein which is higher than thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin in wheat flour.

Thickener in Ophthalmology

Eye drops that are sold in mass production in the market always require an inert thickener such as hydroxyethyl cellulose for the best formulation. This polysaccharide isn’t used without any reason. Hydroxyethyl cellulose is economical, readily available, easy to find, easy to purchase, nontoxic, potentially biodegradable, biocompatible, and usually chemically modifiable. This chemical modification is advantageous because it can produce derivatives with better properties in terms of increased ocular retention, rheology, drug solubility, and mucoadhesion.

While for eye surgery needs, the thickener used is usually hyaluronic acid. This thickener which has viscoelastic properties can protect tissues from mechanical damage due to operating devices. Its protection can be through shock absorption and cell layer lubrication. Its high viscoelasticity can maintain a good operating space. Then, this substance also doesn’t need cold storage and its high purity can maintain a good view after eye surgery.

The other type of thickener like microcrystalline cellulose also used in holding the intravitreal implant. The implant is a drug delivery system for the treatment of eye diseases. When the patient is using the drug that is applied topically, the absorption will be poor due to the low permeability of the external ocular tissue and tearing.

In addition, our eyes have a complex physiology that includes mechanical and chemical barriers that make drug delivery difficult for the eye.
Intravitreal implant drug delivery system design with microcrystalline cellulose is the best implant alternative.

Reliable Thickener Powder

The production process of an item is required to be fast-paced nowadays. You can’t always rely on thickeners that come from nature. Sometimes you have to use a thickener that is produced by a trusted manufacturer to help in the production process of your goods.

You can use the thickener powder to mix the paint so that the consistency is right when applied to the walls, to make homemade liquid soap so you are comfortable applying it to the skin, and do many other uses. You just need to find a manufacturer that you can work with that provides a safe thickener with world standards and can help improve the quality of your product without changing the taste at all.

There are many manufacturers selling thickener powder products that are practical to use now. You can apply this food and beverage thickener in the following way:

• Pour in 4 fl oz. cold or hot liquid into a clear glass-like container.
• Slowly add the thickener to the liquid container and stir with a whisk as you pour. Stir briskly until the thickener dissolves.
• Leave this thickening mixture for at least 1 minute before you use it to make certain foods and drinks.
• Put the dough or milk into the thickener and stir for 5 to 10 minutes.
• You can consume it for at least 30 minutes after mixing.