A natural gum obtained from certain Middle Eastern shrubs, used as a thickening agent in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It forms a gel when mixed with water.
From Arabic katīrā or through Greek tragakantha meaning 'goat's thorn', referring to the spiny shrub that produces the gum. Arabic pharmacists and confectioners developed many uses for this versatile gum. The word entered English via Latin tragacantha in the 14th century.
Tragacanth gum can absorb 100 times its weight in water, making it the ultimate natural thickener—Arabic confectioners used this property to create the world's first gummy candies! This humble shrub gum was so valuable that it appeared in royal banquet records as a luxury ingredient.
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