Is a polymer produced by fermentation of a medium by the microorganism Sphingomonas elodea. The extracellular polysaccharide is recovered after the fermentation process to produce either high acyl or low acyl gellan gum. High acyl gellan is directly recovered after fermentation via alcohol precipitation. Low acyl gellan gum is instead treated with an alkali solution before the alcohol precipitation, consequently resulting in deacylation of the gellan gum.