Potato starch is manufactured through the broad process of washing, sometimes cooking as well as separating the starch that can be found in the cell walls of potato for this to be made into liquid or powdered form. In the field of cooking, potato starch is usually regarded as a substitute thickener in place of white flour or corn starch. But, this has a much higher point of heat as compared to cornstarch so this may actually be superior for specific foods that need high temperatures. Another notable benefit of potato starch, particularly when compared to wheat flour as thickener, is that this is gluten free.
It means that if you are one of those people who would like to have some nice thick gravy, stews or soups but you find it hard to achieve this using flour because of gluten intolerance, you can use the potato starch instead to get excellent results. Just like cornstarch, all you need to do is dissolve the potato starch in some water before you add this as thickener in order for this to blend easily with the rest of the ingredients. A lot of people prefer the starch that is made from corn or potatoes when thickening their sauces since this can help in making the sauces stay translucent while flour only creates sauces that are more muddied in appearance. The potato starch is now making its own mark of being easy to use in various recipes and even more environmentally friendly.
How to Choose Your Potato Starch
There are now plenty of potato starch that you can find in the market, with some being in organic forms if you would like to stay away from the pesticides. Occasionally, this is being sold as potato flour or starch flour instead but most of the time, all the names refer to the similar starch. Make sure that you check the expiry date prior to making a purchase. The potato bread that is made with flour or starch is usually excellent and sweet although you have to check the labels on the commercial brands since these may also contain some amount of wheat flour.
Culinary Uses of Potato Starch
- Due to the lack of gluten, you can use potato starch as an alternative to wheat flour in various recipes, remarkably enhancing the number of the gluten free products being made.
- Potato starch or potato starch flour has neutral taste and this is a great choice for thickening the sauces, stews, soups and gravies.
- This can also produce greater flour-free sponge cakes as this can absorb and retain the moisture to far greater degree as compared to wheat flour and this can also produce cakes with lighter texture.
- A kosher ingredient that is corn-free, this is also commonly used by the Jewish cooks in place of cornstarch and flour during Passover.
How Do You Store Potato Starch?
It is a must that you store potato starch inside an air tight container in cool and dry place.
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