GUM ARABIC. A brief history.
GUM ARABIC HISTORY By Lady Symonne de la Croix 26.3.20 Gum arabic, also called acacia gum, is made from the sap of the Acacia senegal tree, or gum acacia. The sap is a cold water soluble polysaccharide. In its gum form, it thins out as temperature rises. During the stone age, it was used as a food and an adhesive. Japanese and Chinese used acacia gum for painting as early 4000 B.C. Other documented usages have shown that in Ancient Egypt (around 2650 B.C) it was used in the preparationof inks, paints and dyes. It was the pigment binder for paints used to make hierglyphs and ancient inscriptions refer to it as "kami". Gum arabic was used in the mummification process to adhere the bandage wrappings. It is known that Cleopatra ordered recipes prepared with acacia gum for her favourite lipstick. Ancient Gr...
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