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On Wed, 20 Sep 1995, scott adams wrote:
 
> I called a company today to find out what vegetable gum is. They told me it
> was "Tragacanth," but they weren't sure what that was! Can anyone help?
> Also, in my allergy medicine there are two ingredients I'm not sure about,
> which are Gelatin and Glyceryl Monooleate. Any help would be appreciated.
 
According to the Merck Index (available at your local library and very
useful for looking up things like this):
 
Gum Tragacanth-- "the dried gummy exudation from _Astragalus gummifer_
Labill. (white gavan) or other asiatic species of _Astragalus,
Leguminosae,_ found largely in Iran....When mixed with water gives a
soluble fraction...called tragacanthin which is a complex mixture of
polysaccharides containing D-galacturonic acid, other sugars, and traces
of starch and cellulose..."  Sounds like it comes from a tropical plant,
and is unlikely to contain gluten (polysaccharides are long sugar-like
molecules--starch, glycogen, and cellulose are polysaccharides.)
 
Gelatin is the stuff they make Jell-O from.  Made of water-soluble
proteins and is derived from collegen (which comes from animals if you
are vegetarian or cooking for one).
 
Glycerol Monooleate is not in the Merck, but sounds like it comes from
glycerine and oleic acid and would be gf.  It would be a waxy solid.
 
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