Processed
Medium Viscosity
A tier
Medium-viscosity guar is the everyday food grade: enough body for soups, plant milks, and batters without the ropey pull of a top-viscosity lot. Millers achieve it with a slightly coarser mesh, a little more residual protein, or a controlled reduction of chain length. It hydrates a bit more calmly than high-viscosity powder, which makes it kinder in a home blender or a modest sauce kettle. Use it when you want control rather than the last drop of thickening power. Ice cream can still benefit, but a high-viscosity cut will usually freeze smoother at a lower dose. Flavour should stay neutral; a beany or grassy note means husk in the mill stream, not a feature of the viscosity grade.
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Characteristics
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History
Guar millers began cutting medium-viscosity food grades for sauces that high-body lots made gluey.
Beverage and soup plants standardised medium grades for pumpable, non-stringy texture.
Home gluten-free recipes often called for generic guar that behaved like a medium-viscosity cut.
Plant-milk formulators chose medium guar to add body without sliming the sip.