POSTED BY ADMIN The hydrocolloids are a diverse group of long chain polymers with the ability to form viscous dispersions or gels when dispersed in water. They were discovered from trees, plant extracts, sea weeds, flours, seeds and gummy slimes from fermentation processes and other natural processes. The presence of the large number of hydroxyl groups has been seen to increase the affinity for binding water molecules to render them as hydrophilic