tara gum

noun

A white or beige nearly odorless powder used as a thickening agent and stabilizer for food, produced by separating and grinding the endosperm of Tara spinosa seeds.

Similar
E417
OriginSpanish tara →
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Meanings

nountara gum (usually uncountable, plural tara gums)

plural tara gums

  1. uncountableusuallyA white or beige nearly odorless powder used as a thickening agent and stabilizer for food, produced by separating and grinding the endosperm of Tara spinosa seeds.

    Tara flour is one of two products made from the seed pods of a thorny shrub native to Peru. One of those, tara gum, has been used safely for years as a thickening agent or stabilizer in human foods.

    2024 October 3, Sandee LaMotte, “‘I’ve never experienced pain like that’: Consumers pay the price for untested food ingredients”, in CNN

    Synonyms: E417

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA white or beige nearly odorless powder used as a thickening agent and stabilizer for food, produced by separating and grinding the endosperm of Tara spinosa seeds.

Similar
E417

Origin

  1. Spanishtara
  2. Englishtara gum

From Spanish tara, from Quechua.

More words from Spanish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

tara gum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tara%20gum

MLA

“tara gum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tara%20gum. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tara gum,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tara%20gum.

Source: tara gum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.