What is Potato Starch?

If baking comes into your mind, you may probably be wondering about the use and origin of potato starch. This type of starch is directly extracted from potatoes. The tubers of potato contain starch gains that are often referred to as leucoplasts.

For you to successfully extract the starch, you need to crush on the potatoes. And then, the starch grains will come out of the damaged cells. These will be washed-out and dried completely until they become powdery. These typically contain large spherical oval granules and their sizes vary from 5 to 100 um.

This is a well-refined starch that contains minimal fat or protein. Furthermore, this also provides the powder a crystal clear white color. And then, a cooked starch has its neutral taste characteristic, long texture, good clarity and high binding strength.

Potato Starch Uses

Starch derivatives are usually utilized in numerous recipes like wine gums, noodles, sauces, instant soups, bakery cream, hot dog sausages, potato chips, cocktail nuts and more. When it comes to pastry such as sponge cake, it is also utilized to keep the texture soft and cake moist.

This is also used in preparation of pre packed grated cheeses to lessen the binding and sweating. Other examples of its uses include helmipuuro –porridges made out of potato starch monodisperse, milk and papeda. Many people also uses this potato starch in various technical applications like gummed tape, paper sacks, sizing, paper coating, textile sizing, textile finishing and wallpaper adhesive. Furthermore, this is also utilized during the earlier color-photography processes until the color film arrived in mid 1930’s.

What are the different varieties of Potato?

There are numerous potatoes grown for the production of “potato starch”. There are varieties that come with high-starch yields and others are from high-starch content. Lately, new type of “potato plant” was developed containing a 1 type of “starch molecule”. This type is often referred to as amylopectin –this produces a “waxy” potato starch.

Potato cultivation for starch takes place in the Netherlands, Germany, India, Canada, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, France, China and Japan. There are some potato starches which are produced as a “byproduct” from the potato processing industry. This is recovered from “potato cutting circuit” during the potato chip and French fries’ production.

Potato Starch Application

Apart from being an additive on food processing, this is typically used as a stabilizer and thickener for foods like custards, pastas, noodles, salad dressing, pie fillings, gravies, sauces, soups, puddings and more. This product can also be utilized in various traditional recipes. This replaces other starch and this provides an improved functionality and better result.

With regard to the organic potato starch, it adapts to the organic processing. Other uses of potato starch may include being a gluing ingredient, anti caking ingredient, thickener, water binder, and bulking agent. This is commonly applied in most bakeries, confectioneries, meat industries and dry blends. With regard to a native starch, this requires heat to gelatinize or for it to thicken. Once the starch is pre cooked, it can be utilized. The purpose is to thicken in an instant in cold water. And, the process is known to be a (CS) cold swelling or pre-gelatinized starch.

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