Ogorodnik asked the deputy director of the Institute of Potato Growing at the round table of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers, Nikolai Furdyga, which potato varieties are best to choose for preparing starch. And, as it turned out, finding them is not so easy. After all, now, according to Nikolai Furdyga, special varieties of potatoes with a high starch content are practically no longer available for sale.
Choosing varieties
“Chervona Ruta (starch content 25-26%) and Sluch (25%) are considered varieties with a high starch content,” noted Nikolai Furdyga.
Potatoes that are ideal for starch production should contain 20-24% dry matter and 0.2-0.4% sugars. In such potatoes there should be no darkening of the flesh, and the amount of waste should not exceed 15%. Tubers must be whole, dry, and free of diseases.
It should be understood that the starch content also depends on the potato growing technology.
If you used more nitrogen when growing potatoes, then the starchy content will be lower.
The quality of the product is also affected by the time the potatoes are in the ground. If you want to get starch, then you should start producing it at home no later than 2 weeks after digging potatoes - this is ideal.
By the way
For two years, an experiment was conducted at the Vimal starch plant to find out which potato varieties have the most starch. He identified the top three: Kuras (23%), Eurostarch (20%) and Caruso (19%). These varieties are available in the “Professional Nasinnya” assortment in small packaging and are sold through online stores.
Now most varieties contain 14-20%. Average figures - from 1 bucket (12-15 kg) of potatoes you get 1-1.5 kg of homemade starch.
Stages
1. To prepare starch at home, I will need potatoes and water.
2. Wash the tubers well and peel them, cut off the damaged areas. Then rinse them thoroughly again in clean water.
3. Grind the potatoes on a fine grater or pass through a meat grinder. Periodically add water to the container with the puree (or on the grater) so that the mixture is always liquid. Potatoes will release starch into the water.
Our advice
If you do not have a grater with small holes, then the potatoes can be crushed in a juicer, then add cold water to the resulting mass in a 1:1 ratio.
4. Pour water over mashed potatoes and stir. At this point, the starch moves from the potatoes into the water. If your solution is a little red at the beginning, do not be alarmed, the tubers contain a lot of iron, so the solution oxidizes.
5. Then strain the mixture into an enamel bowl through gauze folded in half. Squeeze out the pulp (hard part) well; it will no longer be useful to you.
6. Then the liquid should be left until the water becomes clear and the starch settles to the bottom.
7. Then carefully drain the water. After this, add clean water again and again allow the starch to settle. Repeat this 2-4 times until you get the purest starch.
8. After draining the water for the last time, proceed to dry it. Squeeze the raw starch from the water and spread it on paper, foil or thin plywood.
9. It should be dried in a warm place or in an oven at a temperature no higher than 40 degrees. If the temperature is higher, the starch will turn into a paste.
10. The dryness of starch is checked by touch.
11. When the starch has dried, roll it out with a rolling pin or pass it through a coffee grinder, then it will turn out crumbly.
The resulting starch will have a slightly yellowish tint - this is normal.
Factory-produced starch is also yellow; the white color is given to it by “blueing”.
Store starch in a tightly sealed container in a warm, dry place. Its shelf life is unlimited.
Ivanna KUROVETS
Photos depositphotos
The healing properties of potato starch have long been known everywhere. If it is placed on a bleeding wound, the bleeding instantly stops. This is noticeable even in situations where bleeding continues for several minutes when a bandage is applied. Starch effectively heals wounds and causes the formation of a dense crust at the site of their occurrence. It is recommended to keep it in your medicine cabinet at home and use it if necessary for healing wounds and for other purposes.
How is potato starch obtained?
Potato starch can be obtained in various ways. It’s not at all difficult to do this at home. Any potato, even if damaged, is suitable for this purpose. All potato varieties contain up to a quarter of the percentage of starch. This method of producing starch at home is recommended.
To get from 150 to 250 grams of dry starch, you need two kilograms of peeled potatoes, up to six liters of clean water, a juicer or grater, as well as a saucepan of up to five liters, a sieve, a bowl to separate the cake, two three-liter jars, a half-liter jar for the starch itself and cotton fabric. Extraction of starch takes up to three hours, and it must be dried for up to three days.
Pre-peeled potatoes must be passed through a juicer, then they can be grated. The easier it is to extract starch, the finer the potatoes are grated. True, passing through a filter can cause certain difficulties. The total volume of the resulting dry starch occupies from a tenth to a fifth of the total material, everything is determined by the final degree of grinding.
The grated potatoes are placed in a bowl, filled with cold water and stirred several times at three-minute intervals. Then the entire mixture is placed on a sieve and strained into a bowl. The filtrate may contain potato particles, which are removed through a cotton cloth.
Gradually, the entire filtrate is placed in a three-liter jar and infused for a given amount of time. You can stir it periodically with a spoon. Over time, a layer of starch forms at the bottom of the jar, which gradually increases in density and thickness. After half an hour, the solution is drained and can be used for other operations.
After the starch is extracted from the potatoes, it takes about forty minutes for it to settle to the bottom of the jar, after which the liquid is drained. The sediment is washed several times with streams of running water.
The resulting starch is transferred to a flour sieve, after which it is completely dried for five days. It should be stirred up to five times during the day. The bowl should be larger in size than the sieve itself. To improve ventilation, the sieve should be placed at an angle. The completely purified product is transferred to a jar with a lid.
Chemical composition and calorie content
Issues of calorie content and composition of potato starch are important when preparing dishes for a healthy diet and for people on therapeutic diets. Not to mention the many people who like to lose weight.
Potato starch contains many vitamins and minerals, without which it is difficult to imagine full human life. It contains, in almost complete composition, vitamins of all groups from A to E. Per 100 grams of product there are 75% carbohydrates and up to 20% protein components. Starch also contains nutritional elements and chemical compounds that affect the growth and development of children.
For example, Valine, Hestidine and Arginine are essential amino acids. Those. protein compounds not produced by the human body. Among the non-essential amino acids are: Glycine, Aronine, Sirin and Glutamic acid.
The chemical composition of the substance remains unchanged and is not subject to any changes from the moment the product is received.
Benefits and harm to the body
The described starch is a white powder; its composition is classified as complex carbohydrates. Many people have heard about its beneficial properties - the substance is converted in the stomach into glucose, which is the only source of nutritional energy for the brain. As a potato paste, starch is indispensable in cooking; it is used in the preparation of delicious dishes and seasonings: jelly, gravy and sauces. Starch imparts friability to flour products, and sometimes can replace flour.
Beneficial properties of potato starch
The main beneficial property of the product is its ability to reduce cholesterol levels. There are excellent anti-sclerotic properties. Potassium is contained in large quantities in potato starch. It is useful for all people who suffer from liver and kidney diseases. It is an effective means for removing unnecessary fluid from the body.
Alternative medicine recognizes starch as an effective means of combating factors that provoke stomach ulcers and the entire range of peptic ulcers. It is characterized by high-quality anti-inflammatory and enveloping properties. Numerous studies have shown that the product is capable of providing sufficient amounts of vitamin B2 synthesis - required to restore normal metabolism and normalize digestion.
Harmful effects and contraindications
Basically, some harm has been established from the use of refined starches, which can be obtained during industrial production. This is a regular white powder. Due to it, during digestion, the level of insulin in the blood increases, which causes atherosclerosis, stomach ulcers, contributes to changes in hormonal levels, as well as premature aging. Pathological changes in the structure of the eyeball are possible.
However, it should be well understood that starch can cause harm only when its content in the body is increased. This is possible if you eat foods that have undergone heat treatment. In some cases, the result may be the development of cancer in the patient.
The fact is that at a high level of temperature treatment, starch is modified at the molecular level. All those who prefer chips and fried potatoes need to remember this.
How to make starch from potatoes at home
To make starch from potatoes at home, follow the following recipe.
Potato tubers are washed with cool, clean water, and rotten ones are cut out. Then the potato skins are gradually peeled off. You don’t have to do this if the grater is small or you don’t have time; instead, you can only wash the starch for a long time until it turns white.
The potatoes are gradually crushed on a fine grater; the peeled tubers can be passed through a meat grinder. Water is added to the bowl with the puree so that the entire mixture is sufficiently liquid. It is into the water that the potatoes will give up their starch.
Mashed potatoes are poured with ten liters of water and mixed well. Straining is done through gauze folded in half. The solid part becomes obsolete and is subsequently not used. Infusion is carried out for up to a quarter of an hour until the liquid settles to the bottom. If the water is cloudy and white foam appears on top of it, this is completely normal.
The water is drained, after which new water is added and filtered. The potato starch gradually settles back to the bottom. After this, the entire procedure is repeated from the very beginning up to five times until the water becomes clear again. In such cases, the starch is very clearly visible at the bottom of the container.
Raw starch is laid out in a thin layer on foil or a tray. After drying, you can pass the starch through a coffee grinder so that it becomes crumbly again and after that it can be stored for as long as desired in a dry, dark place. The shelf life is not limited by anything.
Homemade recipes
There are many homemade recipes using potato starch. Below are some of them.
Face masks made from potato starch
For the mask you will need two tablespoons of potato starch and one tablespoon of water. The composition is thoroughly mixed, after which the entire mass is applied to the washed neck and face for half an hour. Then it is washed off with warm water. If necessary, the procedure is repeated the required number of times.
To prepare the following recipe you will need one egg yolk, a tablespoon of potato starch, five drops of lemon juice, and two tablespoons of warm water. The starch is diluted in warm water, then lemon juice is added to the mixture and everything is thoroughly mixed. A mask of this composition is applied to a cleansed face for a quarter of an hour, after which it is washed off with warm water. The procedure is repeated as many times as necessary.
Hair Mask
Beat the mixture with a mixer from two tablespoons of potato starch and two tablespoons of egg yolks. Everything is rubbed into the scalp and the mask remains in the hair for half an hour. Then it is washed with jets of warm, running water. Do it every day for the whole week, gradually hair problems go away as a result of regular use of this composition.
Starch for bruises
The area of the bruise is smeared with a thin layer of potato starch and left overnight. Be sure to cover the bruised area with a gauze bandage. Two or three repetitions will be enough for the problems with the bruise to be completely eliminated and it to disappear.
Traditional treatment with starch
There are many folk methods of using potato starch to treat various diseases and eliminate health problems. Below are some of the most famous ones.
Diarrhea
To effectively eliminate diarrhea, it is enough to take one tablespoon of potato starch on an empty stomach in the morning for three days. If the diarrhea is prolonged, it is necessary to increase the time of administration to one week, but the rate of use does not need to be changed. The binding properties of this substance help improve intestinal motility and eliminate the unpleasant phenomenon.
Gastritis
For gastritis, it is recommended to take diluted potato starch in combination with egg yolk mixed in it. You should drink half a glass, in which both components are mixed in equal proportions. The course of treatment varies from three days to a week, depending on the severity of the condition being described.
Dermatitis
Skin rashes can be eliminated by smearing the area affected by dermatitis with a layer of diluted potato starch. You can add a few drops of lemon or orange to it to give additional disinfection properties. Consuming a similar composition for several days will help completely eliminate the type of problem in question and remove all symptoms of dermatitis.
Diaper rash
Diaper rash is eliminated by washing the skin area with a composition using starch. A tablespoon of this substance is diluted in a glass of water, after which the area of diaper rash is lubricated with a small brush. As a result, a thin layer is formed that protects the skin for some time and ensures its disinfection in the future.
Poisoning
Starch for poisoning is taken as part of several components of the products. It is mixed with lemon juice in the amount of a tablespoon of starch per drop and taken in the morning on an empty stomach. Three tablespoons are quite enough to relieve the symptoms of moderate poisoning. In more severe cases, a course of treatment using medications is required.
Heartburn
For heartburn, it is enough to take half a 200 gram glass of starch diluted in water on an empty stomach. Heartburn usually disappears completely after the third dose; if this does not happen, the full course of treatment should be repeated.
Burns
Burns can be lubricated with starch with the addition of anesthetics. It should be noted that this treatment is only suitable for burns of the first and second severity. In more complex cases, the use of starch will be completely useless. More effective therapies are required in such situations.
Other treatment recipes with potato starch
For acute diarrhea, this recipe is recommended. Three tablespoons of the described substance are mixed with a similar volume of hydrogen peroxide. It should be taken orally one sip at a time. Usually, three days of use is quite enough for the composition to have its effect and the symptoms of the phenomenon gradually decline.
When treating acne on the face, we recommend this mask recipe with the addition of potato starch. Mix potato starch, banana puree and medium-fat cream in a volume of one tablespoon of each component. The components are thoroughly mixed until smooth and the mask is applied to the face. After leaving for half an hour, the entire composition should be washed off with warm water; if necessary, the entire procedure is repeated from the very beginning.
Potato starch is a very necessary thing in the household. Without it, it is almost impossible to cook jelly. It is added to the filling of dumplings, pies and pies so that it becomes more viscous and does not soak the dough. It is added to the dough itself to make it more tender and crumbly. It can also be useful for starching collars and linen, and even for conducting fun experiments with a child (this product turns blue when in contact with iodine). It can hardly be called a scarce commodity: it can be purchased in the grocery department of almost any store, and it will not cost much. However, if you run out of potatoes or you often make potato pancakes and dumplings filled with raw potatoes, then you should learn how to make potato starch at home. Potatoes of any variety and quality are suitable for its preparation, including frozen ones or those that have begun to rot, which you will no longer eat.
Cooking features
Even a novice housewife can prepare potato starch. This process is long, but not complicated. The cook will not have to work actively for very long, only 30–40 minutes if he makes starch from 2 kg of potatoes. The rest of the time, the starch will be cooked without his participation. Knowledge of the basic technological features will protect you from mistakes and will allow you to obtain a high-quality product that will certainly be used.
- As already mentioned, potatoes of any quality are suitable for starch, but if you are using rotten or spoiled potatoes, you will need to not only peel them, but also cut off the damaged areas of the tubers and remove the eyes. It is enough to wash high-quality smooth potatoes and peel them with a vegetable peeler.
- On average, 1 kg of potatoes produces about 40 g of starch, the exact figure depends on the age and type of potato. Young tubers do not yet have time to stock up on large amounts of this substance, so it is more profitable to use mature potatoes to obtain starch.
- To prepare starch, potatoes need to be chopped. If you plan to make potato pancakes from it, it is advisable to grind it using a grater with small or medium holes. If you use the pulp to make puree or throw it away, then it makes sense to simplify the task of chopping potatoes by using a meat grinder. If you need to get just a little starch, you can grind the potatoes using a blender, first cutting them into small cubes and placing them in the jug of the unit in small portions.
- The chopped potatoes are washed several times to extract as much starch as possible, then squeezed out. However, if you intend to use potatoes to make potato pancakes, this method will not work, since at least some of the starch must be left to the potatoes themselves. Then the chopped potatoes are placed on a sieve, squeezed out, and the starch itself, which got into the bowl along with the squeezed potato juice, is washed.
- Rinse the starch by pouring water, waiting for sediment to form, draining the water and adding a new portion of water. But often with this method it is difficult to drain all the excess liquid. Then it can be filtered through a sieve, placing a thin cloth on the bottom.
- The dry residue obtained after washing the potatoes and straining the liquid drained from them is starch. For household purposes, it can be used immediately, but for long-term storage and use in confectionery, the product will have to be dried. To do this, lay it out on foil or plywood and leave it in a dry room for several hours. When it seems that the starch has become dry, you need to crumble it with your hands and leave it for another 2-3 days until it dries completely.
- You can dry the starch in the stove, but this method is only suitable if the oven temperature can be set to 30–40 degrees. Most stoves do not maintain such a low temperature, and at higher temperatures the starch turns into paste.
- After the starch has completely dried, you need to roll a rolling pin over it or crush it with a masher to break up the lumps and make the product more free-flowing. Before using homemade starch to make confectionery, it doesn’t hurt to grind it with a coffee grinder.
Starch should be stored in an airtight container in a dry place protected from light.
Ready starch is white or slightly yellowish in color. Both are the norm.
Economical homemade starch recipe
- potatoes - 2 kg;
- water - how much will it take?
Cooking method:
- Wash and peel good quality potatoes.
- Grind it on a grater - on the roughest side, on which you usually grate potatoes for hash browns.
- Place a sieve over a bowl or small saucepan and pour the chopped potatoes into it along with the juice that has come out of them.
- Let the potatoes lie on the sieve for 20 minutes so that all excess liquid drains from them, gently squeeze them out.
- Transfer potatoes to a clean bowl. By adding eggs, salt, pepper and flour, you will turn it into pancake dough.
- From the bowl into which the liquid from the potatoes drained, carefully drain the top layer of water. At the bottom you will see sediment, the color of which will still be far from white.
- Fill this sediment with clean water. Wait 15-20 minutes for the starch to fall back to the bottom.
- Drain the starch again and add clean water. Repeat the manipulation until the precipitate turns white.
- Strain the starch liquid through a fine cloth or coffee filter.
- Transfer the starch to a sheet of foil. Wait 8-12 hours, then knead the dried starch with your fingers until it forms small clumps.
- Leave the starch to dry for 2-3 days.
- Mash the starch with a masher, pour into a container for storing bulk products and put it in the kitchen cabinet.
This recipe is economical because the starch is prepared along the way, from the liquid drained from the potatoes when preparing pancakes. Many housewives simply pour this liquid away instead of extracting the sediment from it and turning it into powdered starch.
Potato starch using a meat grinder
- potatoes - 2 kg;
- water - how much will it take?
Cooking method:
- Wash and peel the potatoes. Remove eyes and damaged areas. Cut into small pieces and grind through a meat grinder.
- Fill the chopped potatoes with 1 liter of water. After 20 minutes, strain it in portions through a sieve, placing a pan under it.
- Fill the potatoes with water again, let them stand, strain into the same pan.
- Wait half an hour. From the pan into which the water from the potatoes drained, pour the liquid into another pan, passing it through a cloth.
- If necessary, rinse the remaining sediment by pouring a glass of water over it and straining again using a cloth or coffee filter.
- Place the sediment on the plywood and dry it for 3 days.
- Break the starch into pieces and grind with a coffee grinder.
The finished starch can be immediately used for its intended purpose or stored in a container.
A quick way to make potato starch
- potatoes - 2 kg;
- water - how much will it take?
Cooking method:
- Wash the potatoes well without peeling them, cut them into pieces, and grind them through a meat grinder.
- Fill the potatoes with two liters of water and pass them through a sieve into a bowl. Squeeze. Throw away the cake; it is unsuitable for further use.
- Wait about 20 minutes for the starch to settle to the bottom. Drain it and fill it with clean water. Pass through fabric.
- Lay parchment on a baking sheet and spread starch on it.
- Place in the oven, setting it to the minimum temperature (no higher than 40 degrees). Dry for several hours.
This method can be called economical in time, but not in price. It is suitable only for those whose home has suitable kitchen appliances.
Even an inexperienced housewife can prepare potato starch with her own hands. This skill will be useful for those who want to save their family budget. The ability to make starch from potatoes may also be necessary for those who live far from the city, but love jelly and other dishes that cannot be prepared without this inexpensive product.
Every good housewife has a stock of groceries. The shelves in any kitchen are lined with jars and bags of cereals, sugar, flour, salt and butter. In addition, housewives always keep a supply of starch. This is a universal product that is used not only for culinary purposes, but also for various household needs.
How to make starch at home? This is a fairly simple process, although labor intensive. The main thing is to find suitable raw materials.
Potato starch
Traditionally, potato starch is used in Russian cooking. Since ancient times, jelly has been made from it - sweet and sour and very healthy for the stomach. But it can be used in almost any dish that needs to be thickened. Starch is added to airy meringues, berry fillings in pies, to various sauces and other dishes.
In addition, it is used as a basis for homemade anti-wrinkle masks. From potato starch, you can make your own safe children's plasticine, tinted with carrot, beet and spinach juice. And if the baby bites off a piece of such “dough”, then it’s okay.
Potato starch is also used in folk medicine to treat rashes and itching.
Raw materials
How to make potato starch at home? There's nothing complicated about it. You can use any potato for raw materials - large, small, frozen, and even good areas from rotten tubers.
A good choice would be medium-sized tubers of potato varieties intended for long-term storage. They are more starchy and the yield will be greater.
How to cook
How to make starch at home? The procedure will be as follows:
- Wash the tubers. New potatoes from the garden do not need to be peeled. Old tubers need to be peeled off. Remove all bad areas from rotten ones.
- Grind the potatoes in any convenient way. It's best when grated. Mechanical graters, meat grinders and food processors are ideal for this.
- Pour the potato pulp with cold, clean water in a 1:1 ratio.
- Mix the resulting substance thoroughly. During this process, starch is washed out of the tubers and floats as a suspension in the water.
- Then you need to strain the liquid through a sieve to remove any remaining potatoes.
- The liquid must be left to stand until it becomes lighter in color and all the sediment is at the bottom. The white layer of sediment is starch. If it is dirty in color, then you need to drain the water from above so as not to disturb the powder at the bottom, and fill it with fresh, clean water. Then let it sit again. Repeat the procedure until the starch becomes clean.
- Drain off the last of the water. Take out the starch, squeeze it out lightly and put it on paper to dry.
- Dry for several days, periodically loosening and stirring the resulting product.
The resulting powder will be slightly yellow in color. This is fine. When produced on an industrial scale, it turns out exactly the same, but it is slightly blued to make it more attractive to buyers.
How to make starch at home quickly? It can be done. If starch is needed for use in some dish, then it can be used wet. That is, as soon as the sediment settles, it can be immediately put into use.
If you need a dry product, then its drying can be accelerated by forced heating in the oven. However, you need to make sure that the temperature does not rise above 40 ⁰C, otherwise the starch will be spoiled.
Corn starch
Corn starch has very different properties from potato starch. And if any recipe says that you need to add corn starch, then you cannot replace it with potato starch, even in a smaller volume.
There are three types of corn starch - premium, first and amylopectin grade. In addition, modified starch is used in various products. This is a natural product, specially processed so that some of its properties change.
How to make starch from corn at home? This is not as easy to do as with potatoes. But with due diligence it is possible.
How to make it
How to make cornstarch at home? First of all, you need to take the right raw materials. To make good starch, you need either ripened fresh corn kernels or very hard ones, like popcorn.
Fresh beans are easier to work with. They are soft and easily grind into pulp. The problem is that in most of our country such grains do not have time to ripen. They remain at the stage of milk maturity, and it is problematic to obtain starch from them.
Hard, dense corn kernels are a more suitable raw material. But they are harder to work with. They need to either be crushed and then soaked. Or do the opposite, which is much easier. However, it should be remembered that corn swells very slowly.
How to make starch from corn at home? The procedure is exactly the same as when working with potatoes. However, it should be understood that when using a small volume of raw materials, the yield of the final product will be small.
On an industrial scale, corn starch is produced by soaking crushed grains in a weak solution of sulfuric acid, followed by a multi-stage sludge purification. This cannot be done at home.
Liquid starch for laundry
How to make liquid starch at home? It's very simple. You just need to dilute the dry powder in water in the required proportions. To prepare it you should take:
- corn starch - 0.5 cups;
- cold water - 2 glasses;
- essential oil of lavender, bergamot or rose - 3-4 drops.
You need to pour out a small part of the water and mix the powder in it so that there are no lumps left. The remaining water must be brought to a boil and the diluted starch must be poured into it in a thin stream, stirring continuously. After the mixture is poured in, you need to keep it on the fire for another minute, without ceasing to stir. Then you can remove it, add aromatic essential oil and cool.
This starch is used when ironing collars and cuffs on blouses and shirts, or individual items of clothing are soaked in it after rinsing.
The most common root vegetable that is grown everywhere, choosing the right variety. Potatoes contain many different useful substances and vitamins, including easily digestible carbohydrates in water; carbohydrates in their pure form are contained in potato starch. Potato tubers contain up to 18% starch. The best starch can be obtained from potatoes. How is starch useful? High-quality medical glucose is prepared from potato starch, which has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart muscle and is used for infectious diseases and liver diseases. Glucose, from starch, is a component of blood replacement and anti-shock drugs. Potato starch is included in medicines and, due to its adhesive properties, is a component of powders, pills, and capsules. They contain starch up to 20%. Starch mixed with glycerin is included in many ointments and cosmetic creams.
At home, starch brewed with hot water in the form of jelly is used for gastrointestinal diseases, disorders and poisoning; after gastric lavage, it acts as an enveloping and protective agent for the gastric mucosa.
Starch in its pure form is used as a powder for burns and for sprinkling diaper rash and bedsores.
Starch is widely used not only in cooking as a thickener, but also in everyday life and for technical purposes. In cold water, potato starch swells well, and when brewed in hot water it turns into a paste and is used for gluing various surfaces, gluing wallpaper on walls, for gluing paper, cardboard, papier-mâché in the manufacture of Christmas tree decorations, crafts and New Year's costumes, paste from starch is the safest and cleanest material. How to make paste from potato starch? To do this, the starch must be ground with a small amount of water at the rate of 1 teaspoon of starch and 5 tablespoons of water. Then pour the mixture with one glass of boiling water, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. You should get a thick paste, whitish transparent. The paste cannot be stored for a long time, so there is no need to prepare it too much.
We all prepare jelly and starch our laundry; the best remedy for this is natural potato starch. Starch is used to apply cosmetic masks at home. For such purposes and in such small quantities, starch can be obtained at home. Starch consumption increases with the onset of the berry and fruit picking season. After all, there is nothing better than delicious strawberry or blackcurrant jelly.
After you are convinced of the benefits of starch and its range of uses, we advise you to extract starch from potatoes with your own hands at home. How to get starch yourself at home if you have a lot of potatoes stored in the cellar?
During the potato harvest, all cut tubers can be used to obtain starch, and during potato storage, even in a well-equipped cellar, spoiled tubers appear. These discarded potatoes during sorting will be used to prepare starch. The potatoes are not completely lost, so you can wash them and cut off the spoiled part. Frozen potatoes are also suitable for preparing starch.
Potatoes need to be peeled, washed and cut into pieces. Then grind on a grater or in a meat grinder. You will immediately notice the appearance of released starch. The pulp prepared in this way contains cell membranes, juice and starch grains.
To separate starch from potato pieces, the pulp must be washed on a sieve with cold water over a basin or bucket. You will get starch milk. It needs to be allowed to settle, starch is heavier than water and it will gradually settle to the bottom.
After about an hour, the water should be drained, slightly twisting the container so that the remaining potato fiber is drained. Now the remaining starch must be poured with clean water and stirred. Allow the starch to settle again. Drain the water. So you need to rinse until the water above the starch sediment becomes completely clear.
The last water is drained, allowing the starch to settle for 3-4 hours. Now the potato starch is almost ready. But it's still raw. Dry potato starch by spreading it in a 1.0 cm layer on a clean white cloth stretched over a frame or spread on a sieve. Starch must breathe from all sides and if there is always fresh air in the room it will dry quickly. You can dry the starch in the oven or in the oven on iron baking sheets.
Dry starch is poured into tightly sealed jars or boxes for storage.
Loading...