In this study, synergistic interactions were investigated between Gleditsia triacanthos (Gt) gum and some commonly used hydrocolloids (xanthan, kappa-carrageenan, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and alginate). Two different hydration temperatures (25 and 80 degrees C) were used and apparent viscosity of gum blends was determined. Linear and nonlinear fuzzy models were constructed for the estimation of apparent viscosity of gum blends. Gt gum showed non-Newtonian pseudoplastic behavior in the range of studied concentrations and shear rates. Gt generally showed good synergistic interactions with selected hydrocolloids and the best one was Gt-xanthan blend because of the good interaction due to the association of xanthan double helicoidal structure with sequences of unsubstituted mannosyl residues in the galactomannan based Gt gum. The effect of hydration temperature was found to be very significant in terms of rheological behavior of gum solution. Fuzzy models showed very high estimation accuracy compared to linear models (R-2 > 0.999). All of these findings showed that gum obtained from Gleditsia triacanthos seeds, sole or combined with other hydrocolloids can be utilized as a new and efficient thickening agent and fuzzy models can be used to predict the apparent viscosity of gum blends. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.