What's Gellan?

Thanks for the links! They are very helpful. Do you know what the active ingredients are, though? Like I said, I want to be able to know what I'm putting into the product before I feed it to people...I didn't know if maybe you had worked with any of the ones you listed or knew what the particular ingredients were. Thanks again!

I have been making ice cream at home for awhile and have the 10 year "plan" of opening my own ice cream shop. With that, I have been researching the possibility of switching to stabilizers instead of eggs. I know that I could use gum arabic, sodium alginate, guar gum, xanthan, carrageenan, corn starch, so on and so forth...and as far as I've deduced the three that I am most interested in getting input and advice on are gum arabic, sodium alginate, and guar gum. I have read quite a few posts on this sort of topic but it has honestly gotten me nowhere because none of the posts answer the questions I have:

Where can I find these stabilizers as a regular person with no ordering power?
HOW do I use them? (ratios, cooking methods, etc...I have NO experience with them at all)

I was also wondering if I could possibly use tapioca starch instead? Again, how much would I use? Could I make starch out of tapioca pearls?

Thanks in advance for your help! I look forward to reading your responses!