Why wood rosins do the job

I don’t know absolutely everything about technology. Fact! Especially the chemical side with all those references to bonding and valency. I cover up this ignorance by asking questions:

QUESTION: I bought a bottle of Tango on a train and found myself reading the ingredients list on the label. What are emulsifiers, why are they necessary and why - in particular - are the exotically named glycerol esters of wood rosins used? I'd like to include your answer on my blog.

ANSWER: Cloudy, flavoured soft drinks, such as Tango Orange, often contain essential oils as part of the flavouring system. To ensure these oils remain evenly distributed throughout the drink, to give a uniform flavour over the consumption of the drink, it is necessary to use emulsifiers to allow these oils to be evenly dispersed throughout the product.

Glycerol esters of wood rosins, also known as ester gum, aid the emulsification of essential oils in products such as these. (They are) also odourless and tasteless at the levels used in soft drinks.

In Tango Orange using (these) rosins in conjunction with acacia gum (achieves) greater stability. Sharon Johnson, Britvic Consumer Care Advisor

Long-term enemy pays a visit

My credentials as an inadequate gardener are well established on this and other blogs. But here's another justification.

Kneeling to pull out weeds leaves my toes pointing at right-angles to the ground. If I'm careless my big toes bend slightly in the wrong direction (ie, towards, rather than away from, my knees). Recently I was careless and as I stood up I detected the signs of my long-term enemy - gout.

I need say no more about gout, for Gillray has said it all (see inset). I suffered for years until a revered doctor prescribed Allopurinol which inhibits the build-up of uric acid crystals in the joints. Now, provided I'm careful and avoid aggravating vulnerable joints, my physiology remains under control. Allopurinol works and deserves its place in this blog's pantheon.

But you can see why my feelings towards horticulture are, at best, mixed.