What is Guar Gum and Carob Bean Gum?

I was looking at a package of Fresh & Easy's Chocolate Ice Cream and realized there were two out of the eight "all-natural" ingredients that made me do a double take.

What the heck is guar gum and carob bean gum?! What are they doing in my perfect bowl of ice cream?!

Rather than trusting the claim that Fresh & Easy is committed to using all-natural ingredients in their products, I went out and did some quick research. What I discovered was a massive ice cream conspiracy of epic proportions!

...yeah, right.

Wiki "guar gum" and "carob bean gum" on wikipedia.org and this is the information you'll get.

First off, they truly are all-natural. They are the extracts of plant matter, both of them being derivatives of beans. Even though guar gum sounds like some animal chewed on gum and spat it out, it's actually bean based.

Second, if it wasn't for these plant extracts, ice cream would have a completely different texture. Guar gum and carob bean gum, also known as locust bean gum, are used as thickening agents, making ice cream feel creamier but not having the higher amount of fat associated with creaminess. Think cornstarch, but cheaper because the viscosity (thickening) level is much higher than cornstarch so less is needed to produce the desired result.

Third, guar gum "retards ice crystal growth non-specifically by slowing mass transfer across the solid/liquid interface." Way to go wikipedia for explaining what guar gum does in layman terms. Technobabble translated, guar gum slows down and prevents, to an extent, the formation of ice crystals in ice cream.

Wait, isn't ice cream ICED cream? Yes, but the ice crystal formation that guar gum prevents is actually a bad one. Ever ate ice cream and instead of it being creamy, it was like eating a combination of ice cream and slush? Ever noticed that when you refreeze slightly melted ice cream, it gets crunchy and icy? That's what ice crystals do to your ice cream! The stuff that guar gum tries to prevent!

So, not only am I pleased that Fresh & Easy isn't lying about their "all-natural" claim, I'm glad that they use guar gum and carob bean gum in their ice cream. Cause without it, my perfect bowl of ice cream would be imperfect, which would make me very sad indeed.