Xanthan gum 'seeds' in sauce Update: I managed to properly incorporate the gum without any clumping. I used an immersion blendsr (blade attachment) and mixed it with sugar this time, and it helped. 

To thicken a home made tomato sauce, I tried added xanthan gum. While the sauce did thicken (too much in fact, it was mucus like), it resulted in little white 'seeds' floating in the sauce, which was visually unappealing.


First, I placed the sauce in a tall metal cup. I placed my immersion blender (with whisk attachment) inside and turned it on. 
With the high speed immersion blender whirring inside, I sprinkled xanthan gum inside, bit by bit.
The xanthan gum powder did not mix well and white 'seeds' could be seen floating in the sauce.


Are the 'seeds' a result of the xanthan gum clumping together? What should I do differently to mix it well to avoid this from happening

I should note that the sauce was quite hot (between 160F- 180F) when I added the gum. The sauce also consisted of mainly vinegar, and some sugar.
Kevin's answer is close: a slurry is best, but the mechanism and technique are different than starch based thickeners. With starches, the cells explode when heated, but xanthan gum simply needs to be hydrated, and it can be hydrated at any temperature. 

Mix a smaller amount of xanthan gum in water in your metal cup, add water, and blend it with your immersion blender. For your slurry, you're looking for a consistency which is much thicker than your sauce, but still thin enough to be able to stir in fairly easily. Like you said, add too much and you'll end up with a pan of tomato snot. A one percent mixture (1 gram of xanthan gum per 100 grams of liquid, by weight) will be pretty thick, even if the starting liquid is water. A little dab will do ya!

Good luck!