A composition comprises an ion-exchanged carrageenan. The carrageenan may be atraditionally extracted orneutrally extracted iota or kappa carrageenan. The ion-exchanged carrageenanhas reduced gelling cation contents, reduced gellingtemperature, and reduced melting temperature, as compared to its non-ion-exchanged counterpart. The ion-exchanged carrageenanmay be mixed with another carrageenan to form a carrageenan product having aunique gelling temperature and meltingtemperature. Also disclosed is a process for making an ion-exchangedcarrageenan composition.
