Carrageenan Carrageenan Carrageenans or carrageenins ( , from Irish "", "little rock") are a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. Their main application is in dairy and meat products, due to their strong binding to food proteins. There are three main varieties of carrageenan, which differ in their degree of sulfation. Kappa-carrageenan has one sulfate group per disaccharide, iota-carrageenan has two, and lambda-carrageenan has three. Gelatinous extracts of the "Chondrus crispus" (Irish moss) seaweed have been used as food additives
Ethnolichenology from lichens were historically very important throughout Europe from the 15th to 17th centuries. They were generally extracted from "Roccella" spp. lichens imported from the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Madagascar, or India. These lichens, and the dye extracted from them, are called orchil (variants archil, orchilla). The same dye was also produced from "Ochrolechia" spp. lichens in Britain and was called cudbear. Both "Roccella" spp. and "Ochrolechia" spp. contain the lichen substance orcin, which converts into the purple dye orcein in the ammonia fermentation process. Litmus, a water-soluble pH indicator dye mixture, is extracted from "Roccella" species. Many lichens