Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Carrageens are a family of turally occurring sulfated galactans (polysaccharides) extracted from certain species of red seaweed (Rhodophyta).
They are widely used in the food industry as gelling, thickening, and stabilizing agents, particularly in dairy and meat products.
Step 2: Detailed Explation:
The cell walls of red seaweeds are rich in hydrocolloids that protect the algae from physical damage in marine environments.
Commercial carrageen is primarily extracted from red algal genera such as Chondrus, Gigarti, Eucheuma, and Kappaphycus.
Gigarti is a major source of lambda-type and kappa-type carrageens.
These polysaccharides contain repeating units of galactose and anhydrogalactose linked by glycosidic bonds, with varying levels of sulfate ester substitution.
Sargassum is a genus of brown algae (Phaeophyceae) that is a source of algites, not carrageen.
Caulerpa and Monostroma are green seaweeds (Chlorophyta) and do not produce carrageen.
Step 3: Fil Answer
Thus, Carrageen is extracted from the red seaweed genus Gigarti.