A Practical Guide to Gelling & Thickening Agentswill show you how to prepare solutions of gelling and thickening agents in the best possible way, so that you obtain optimal functionality from these ingredients for your products. The course will cover the major difficulties encountered in using gelling and thickening agents, and will highlight the problems that you should look out for, whether it is in the development kitchen, the pilot plant or on the production line. In addition to hydrocolloids, starch ingredients and their applications will also be covered. You will be able to correlate starch thickening properties to your product applications, and will be making and comparing different starches with different properties, whether they be short-textured, paste-like, gelled, pulpy or smooth. Throughout the course, science will be incorporated to allow for better understanding of correlating hydrocolloid functionality to real food and drink applications.  From this course you willLearn the importance of dispersion and hydration, and factors affecting themMake water and milk gels using gelling agents, such as carrageenan, pectin, alginate, and gelatinView the range of equipment available for gel testing and carry out basic measurementsUnderstand what happens in mixed gel systemsLearn about the different types of starches, how starch is modified and which applications starch can be used in Recognise synergies between hydrocolloids themselves and between starch and hydrocolloids