cake makers, can you please explain to me the difference between gum tragacanth & gum arabic?

[lucysmam]

I've been trying to find out all day. Both on another forum which hasn't been helpful & using various search engines. All I keep getting is where to buy them & where they come from. Which isn't helping

Can you please explain to me, simply, what the difference is? Thank-you

i make lots of cakes and have never herd of any of them. sorry

my freind is gluten free and gets some random ingrediants (im thinking xanthan gum) fron health food stores or holland and barrat if it helps?

"Gum Tragacanth is also used to make a paste used in Floral Sugarcraft to create life-like flowers on wires used as decorations for cakes. It makes a paste which dries brittle in the air and can take colorings. It enables users to get a very fine, delicate finish to their work."

"Gumpaste: Edible clay-like dough made by combining glycerin, gum Arabic and icing sugar and used to mold edible flowers and figures. Gum paste can also be rolled extremely thin and used to make intricate ribbons and lacework as well as delicate flower petals."

Not sure either help really - sorry

I use Gum tragacanth when I'm decorating birthday cakes and need to do some fiddly bits like hair on people, small animals etc. Without it, the fontant icing keeps cracking and breaking. The Gum tragacanth makes it much more pliable and means I can roll it out thinner etc.

I've never used gum arabic, but from Katymac's description, it sounds very similar.

I think that Comeoveneer is a cakemaker, as is Stealthsquiggle. Perhaps you could CAT them.

Just remembered - I think Califrau does cakes too, but I haven't seen her posting for a while.

thanks, I'm still confused about the gum arabic but the gum tragacanth description makes sense

bumpety bump

Squires Kitchen's Gum Arabic can be used to make an edible glue for use in sugarcraft. This can also be mixed with Rosewater for brushing on edible flowers for crystallising in sugar.

Gum Tragacanth is a natural product that adds strength and stretch to sugar products. Can be used in modelling paste, flower paste and pastillage.

This was on the Suires Kitchen online shop - very good for cake decorating stuff
No, I don't work there!

So I could use the gum arabic (if I had it) to stick things together made from icing, like flowers to a cake, kind of thing.

Thank elceeell, it makes more sense now. btw, very confuddling name , took me ages to spell it right, had to keep checking!

That's right, though I use the edible glue that you can buy ready-made from it because it is easy just to dip a brush in and glue things together - like arms on a figure.
Not meant to be confuddling - just my initials

thank-you. My brain is no longer baffled by my lack of google skills!