Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of a group of closely related colloids derived from Irish moss and several other red algae, widely used as a thickening, stabilizing, emulsifying, or suspending agent in industrial, pharmaceutical, and food products.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a colloidal material obtained from seaweed or Irish moss, used as an thickening or emulsifying agent and for stabilizing foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A food additive made from a purified extract of red seaweed, commonly used as a thickening agent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a colloidal extract from carrageen seaweed and other red algae

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word carrageenan.

Examples

  • This filtering, aka fining, is typically performed with fish-bladder isinglass or egg whites, although some companies now choose vegan alternatives such as bentonite clay, silica gel, diatomaceous earth and Irish moss, a seaweed product also known as carrageenan.

    Anneli Rufus: Are Animals in Your Cocktail? Anneli Rufus 2011

  • This filtering, aka fining, is typically performed with fish-bladder isinglass or egg whites, although some companies now choose vegan alternatives such as bentonite clay, silica gel, diatomaceous earth and Irish moss, a seaweed product also known as carrageenan.

    Anneli Rufus: Are Animals in Your Cocktail? Anneli Rufus 2011

  • This filtering, aka fining, is typically performed with fish-bladder isinglass or egg whites, although some companies now choose vegan alternatives such as bentonite clay, silica gel, diatomaceous earth and Irish moss, a seaweed product also known as carrageenan.

    Anneli Rufus: Are Animals in Your Cocktail? Anneli Rufus 2011

  • But roughly one-third of the fresh chicken sold in the U.S. is "plumped" with water, salt and sometimes a seaweed extract called carrageenan that helps it retain the added water.

    The Fine Print: What's Really in a Lot of 'Healthy' Foods 2009

  • The seaweed from Indonesia and other tropical nations is more often a yellowish variety that yields an extract called carrageenan that is used widely by manufacturers as a thickening agent.

    Indonesia Got Soaked When 2008

  • Irish Moss is a source of carrageenan, which is commonly used as a thickener and stabilizer [5] in milk products such as ice cream [6] and processed foods including lunch meat.

    Find Me A Cure 2009

  • Ben & Jerry's has wackier flavors and uses rBST-free milk from small family dairies, but they add artificial thickeners like guar gum and carrageenan.

    The Stir: The Latest Grocery Store Scam: Legal But So Wrong The Stir 2011

  • The cheese is restructured—heated with ingredients like carrageenan and cooled in a mold—for a gooier texture.

    Making a 21st-Century Hamburger 2011

  • Their ingredient lists aren't especially appealing: Liquid CoffeeMate original flavor, for contains water, corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil, sodium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, mono- and diglycerides, sodium aluminosilicate, artificial flavor and carrageenan.

    Is that right? La Creme: 100% dairy, 0% shame 2011

  • Ben & Jerry's has wackier flavors and uses rBST-free milk from small family dairies, but they add artificial thickeners like guar gum and carrageenan.

    The Stir: The Latest Grocery Store Scam: Legal But So Wrong The Stir 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A compound extracted from Irish moss (a type of seaweed) that is used in puddings, milk shakes and ice cream to stabilize and keep color and flavor even. See Still Hungry?

    January 24, 2008

  • viscosity increaser

    clarifier

    stabilizer

    thickener

    sexual lubricant

    microbicide

    probable carcinogen

    March 8, 2008

  • I know this word as carrageenin, which is how it is listed in OED2 and MW3. It comes from carrageen (Irish Moss), with the chemical suffix "-in". But RHD2 lists carrageenan, with carrageenin as a variant, and a Google Book search shows carrageenan predominant since the 1970s. Another variant is carragheenin according to MW3.

    March 8, 2008

  • The Italian term is carragenina, that sounds much more like carrageenin. But I chose the most common English version...

    March 9, 2008