Agar

Agar is a gelatinous substance chiefly used as a culture medium for microbiological work. Other uses are as a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in jellies, ice cream and Japanese desserts such as anmitsu, as a clarifying agent in brewing, and for paper sizing fabrics. It is an unbranched polysaccharide obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae or seaweed. The word agar comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly). It is also known as kanten or agal-agal (Ceylon agar). Chemically, agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose. Agar polysaccharides serve as the primary structural support for the algae's cell walls.