food additives/anti caking agents

[blues_n_cues]

i'm looking through distributors & it's a pita. most companies are in india & sell in super large bulk. anyone got any ideas about small quantity american companies?

i'm specifically looking for silicon dioxide.
i've been doing the research & it's the best thing i've found w/ no ill effects and is in most of your powdered spices.

[Richtee]

Nasty stuff to work with...PITA! Anyway, maybe you should contact a pro food/spice maker, it appears all the stuff you can order- mainly out of country too- is a metric ton.

[Richtee]

Take a look here Gyp
http://www.grace.com/EngineeredMater...g/Default.aspx

[roadrunr]

Rob, have a looksee here. I've bought it from them before. Quality stuff

http://www.americanspice.com/catalog...b2a9bb241abf1f

[blues_n_cues]

cool,thanx. i really don't want to put this stuff in my rubs but w/ a brown sugar base it needs something to keep it from caking.
i'm also looking @ bulk granulated organic dried brown sugar.
i want to keep it organic & natural.
the orders are coming in for the rub big time now.

[Richtee]

IF you used a shaker, or explained to sift it, you could use good old rice grains... might be a cool sales point even-

"Only NATURAL anti-caking..."

[roadrunr]

Rob, do a search for free flowing brown sugar. Same thing as the regular brown sugar, with a lower moisture content. Should help with your problem.

[roadrunr]

IF you used a shaker, or explained to sift it, you could use good old rice grains... might be a cool sales point even-

"Only NATURAL anti-caking..."

I still use the good ole rice grains fer stuff...

[Richtee]

Rob, do a search for free flowing brown sugar. Same thing as the regular brown sugar, with a lower moisture content. Should help with your problem.

Hmmm no additives? Because sugar is VERY hygroscopic.

[roadrunr]

Hmmm no additives? Because sugar is VERY hygroscopic.

yer correct sir... not only sugar, but some salts are too. i would assume the free flowing brown sugar itself has an anti caking agent.

[curious aardvark]

the orders are coming in for the rub big time now.

Congratulations :-) Pleased for you.

A decent, cheap,easy to acquire anti-caking agent would be useful.
Rice grains - would rice flour work as well ? (take 2 seconds to make in the MB)

(few minutes later)

Powdered sugars contain corn starch as an anti-caking agent;

Anyone tried using corn flour/starch ?
Thinking about it I've used it in sweetmaking, mix with icing sugar as a coating for marshmallows, turkish delight, nougat etc
Stops the icing sugar going sticky.

Not sure how it would effect arub's properties, but might be worth a try.

[Jimbob]

the orders are coming in for the rub big time now.

Good deal! Best of luck to you!

[blues_n_cues]

yer correct sir... not only sugar, but some salts are too. i would assume the free flowing brown sugar itself has an anti caking agent.

most sugars do,like powdered & icing sugar from what i've been researching.
the free flowing brown sugars i'm looking @ are like kosher salt-larger granules & dehydrated. maybe i should buy a dehydrator myself & try that.
or better yet.....
sell the recipe to a major manufacturer w/ a lifetime royalties clause & retire again...


NOT!!!

[blues_n_cues]

this may be the answer.....
scroll down to the comments.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/b...r-saver-005915

i wonder if a crouton would work?

[curious aardvark]

looking at the link, it's almost as if they're rehydrating it.
so brown sugar lumps up when it dries out - and what the terra cotta disc does is adds moisture.
Not sure that would work for a rub.
Now I'm slightly confused. I always thought it was damp getting in that caused spice mixes to clump and the anticaking agents actively absorbed water to keep it dry and flowing.
that post is claiming the exact opposite - but maybe it's just for neat sugar.

yeah silicon dioxide is used to absorb water.

So looks like you need to do a little resaerch on your rub - is it clumping because it's drying out or getting damp ?