pectin Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun any of various water-soluble colloidal carbohydrates that occur in ripe fruit and vegetables; used in making fruit jellies and jams

Gr. curdled, congealed, from to make fast or stiff: cf. F. pectine.

(Chem.) One of a series of carbohydrates, commonly called vegetable jelly, found very widely distributed in the vegetable kingdom, especially in ripe fleshy fruits, as apples, cranberries, etc. It is extracted as variously colored, translucent substances, which are soluble in hot water but become viscous on cooling.