Starch- a plant nutrient that they accumulate and use at the beginning of the growing season. Most starch accumulates in potato tubers, grains of wheat, corn, and rice.
In the presence of acid, starch hydrolyzes to form glucose. In the human diet, starch is the main source of glucose, which supplies the body with energy for various purposes. Products containing starch have the effect of “filling the stomach” without leading to weight gain. Grains, nuts, and vegetables that contain starch improve intestinal function, but if consumed in excess, they can cause flatulence and bloating.
Starch looks like a white, free-flowing powder that resembles flour, but when squeezed between your fingers, it produces a characteristic creaking sound. It dissolves well in cold water, and in hot water it shrinks, forming lumps.
Starch can be natural or refined. Refined complex carbohydrates, which include starch, are considered harmful. Refining strips vegetables and grains of their mineral and vitamin content. During the digestion process, refined starch increases inulin, which can cause hormonal imbalance and the development of atherosclerosis.
Making starch
The easiest way to make starch at home is from potatoes. You don’t need a special variety for this; you can use small, frozen and damaged potatoes, and even waste from them.
Potato tubers are washed well in warm water, damaged or rotten areas are removed and peeled. Then rinse again in cold water. After this, the potatoes are crushed on a fine grater, which is periodically watered with water. This way the grated potato mass gradually accumulates in the water.
To chop potatoes, you can use a meat grinder by removing the sieve and cutting the tubers into two or four parts. Potatoes can be crushed in a juicer by removing the fine mesh. At the same time, cold water is added to the crushed mass in equal parts.
The resulting mass must be immediately filtered into a wide enamel container through double-folded gauze, fine cotton cloth or a fine sieve (otherwise the starch will be gray in color). Together with the liquid, the starch will go into the container, where the liquid needs to settle so that it settles to the bottom. Then the water is carefully drained, and the settled starch is poured with clean water and again allowed to settle to the bottom. The washing process is repeated 3-4 times until it finally turns out.
Pure raw starch is squeezed out of water, laid out on paper and dried in a warm place. You can dry it in the oven, but at a temperature not higher than 40 0 C, otherwise the starch will turn into a paste.
The dryness of starch is determined by touch. It may appear dry while remaining moist. After drying, the starch is rolled out with a rolling pin or ground until it becomes crumbly. This starch has a yellowish color, however, as in factory conditions, only there it is slightly bluish.
From a bucket of potatoes you can get 1–1.5 kg of starch.
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.
Cook delicious transparent jelly from starch, which goes to the retail chain, does not always work out, since the quality of starch leaves much to be desired.
But it doesn't matter! After all get potato starch l at home is not difficult. Any potato will be suitable for this purpose, even damaged ones. Different varieties of potatoes contain up to 25% starch.
To obtain 150 - 250 g of dry starch you will need: peeled potatoes - 2 kg, water - about 6 liters, a grater or juicer, a 5 liter saucepan, a sieve and a deep bowl for separating the liquid from the cake, two 3 liter jars, a cotton funnel cloth for filtering, a 0.5 liter jar for washing starch, a sieve and a bowl for drying starch. The time spent on starch extraction is about 3 hours, drying time is from 3 to 5 days.
Pass the peeled potatoes through a juicer (in this case, the juice will need to be added to the cake) or grate. The smaller the potato particles, the more complete the extraction of starch from it will be, but the more difficulties will arise during the filtering process. The mass of the resulting dry starch, depending on the degree of potato grinding, ranges from 8% to 20% of the mass of the starting material.
Place the crushed mixture in a saucepan, add cool water (2 - 3 l), stir thoroughly several times at intervals of 5 minutes.
Place the mixture in a sieve and strain into a deep bowl. Potato particles may get into the filtrate, which will later be removed when filtered through a cotton cloth.
Filter the filtrate, which gradually acquires a dark color, into a three-liter jar through a funnel with a cotton filter, which will retain small potato particles, and leave to settle. If the cotton filter becomes clogged, which often happens when using a juicer, the liquid in the funnel can be gently stirred with a teaspoon. Soon a layer of starch will form at the bottom of the jar. After about 20 minutes, the settled solution can be carefully drained and used to extract starch in further operations.
Return the cake from the sieve to the pan and add a portion of water (fresh or settled - it doesn’t matter). Repeat the operation 3 – 4 times, starting from step 2.
After completing the procedure for extracting starch from potatoes, you need to wait 30 - 40 minutes until the starch settles to the bottom of the jar and the cloudy water becomes almost clear. Carefully drain the liquid from the dense sediment.
At the bottom of the jar, pour a glass of clean water, mix thoroughly so that all sediment rises from the bottom, and transfer the mixture to a half-liter jar.
After the starch has completely settled to the bottom, drain the darkened water. Rinse the precipitate several more times with fresh water until the washing water becomes almost colorless.
Drain the liquid and leave the wet sediment at room temperature for several hours so that it dries and can be loosened.
Transfer the starch to a sieve, place in a bowl and leave in the shade for 3 to 5 days until completely dry. The starch needs to be stirred several times a day. The bowl should be larger in diameter than the sieve, because as the starch dries and stirs, it will begin to flow through the sieve. To improve ventilation, the sieve can be placed at an angle.
Transfer the dried starch to a jar with a lid.
Potato cake can be used to make potato pancakes. You just need to take into account that the potato mass is depleted in starch, so you need to add more binding components - eggs and flour - than usual.
To prepare the potato mixture remaining after extracting the starch, add 2 large onions, previously chopped, 10 medium eggs, 2 full tbsp. spoons of flour, salt and spices to taste.
One of the most commonly used laundry detergents, liquid starch, can be prepared at home. Here are some recommendations:
Unlike our great ancestors, who had to struggle with starch for clothing, we have a wide range of starch-based laundry products that can be used much more easily. And while some of these products are added during the wash cycle, others are sprayed directly onto the clothes during ironing. Because this laundry industry product is available in a variety of forms, so you can get the best deals from the market.
Liquid starch can be prepared at home using some readily available household products. Want to know how to make liquid starch? Vegetable starch and water are enough. Thus, vegetable starch is all you need, and it will cost much less than store-bought products. Since artificial starch is used for other purposes, homemade starch is much less expensive.
Ingredients for making starch
- Corn starch - 1 cup.
- Cold water – ¼ cup.
- Tap water – 3 ¾ cups.
- Essential oil (lavender/vanilla/rose) – a few drops.
How to make liquid starch at home
Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Make sure to mix the mixture well so that there are no lumps left. After this, set the mixture aside and boil tap water in a saucepan. When the water boils, add cornstarch to the pan. Stir the contents of the pan and add a few drops of essential oil. Continue stirring for about a minute before removing the pan from the heat.
Allow the mixture to cool before pouring it into a spray bottle. You can spray homemade liquid starch while ironing your clothes. You can also use this starch when washing clothes, but in this case, make sure to spray the clothes with water while ironing. In general, you can replace the cornstarch with a pre-made mixture, and you can replace the essential oil with lemon juice. Making liquid starch at home is very easy, all you need is cornstarch and water. Essential oil becomes a must-have addition for fragrance. If you want to enhance the effect, simply add starch to the recipe.
Compared to purchased household chemicals, homemade starch is free of chemicals. However, homemade starch should not be stored at room temperature for more than a few days. Otherwise, refrigerate it. This starch must be brought to room temperature before use. If you store liquid starch in a bottle, make sure you shake the bottle well before using it. This is necessary because starch may settle at the bottom of the bottle. Its uses are varied, you can dip the fabric in a starch solution and wring it out before drying and ironing the fabric. You can also spray it on dry clothes before ironing.
Any housewife has at least sometimes cooked jelly and cooked it with her own hands, which simply requires starch.
For jelly it is necessary as a thickener, and for baking to add fluffiness and friability.
This ingredient can be purchased at almost any grocery store or supermarket. However It’s not difficult to make it at home, while at minimal cost.
Read also:
DIY starch
For example, if you plan to cook dumplings with potatoes, then you can take advantage of the moment and make homemade starch from potatoes. In any case, the chopped vegetable will remain viscous starch mixture, which will help you make a useful product from almost nothing. This way you will learn how to make starch from potatoes.
You just need to rinse and leave it to dry. And the quality of the product will be at the highest level, since it is made from a natural base.
To make starch with your own hands, you can take any potato, no matter how young or old it is, or what it looks like.
Components:
Two kilograms of potatoes yield about 80 grams of starch;
It takes two to three days to prepare. And the cooking process takes no more than half an hour.
Step by step execution:
- Peel the potatoes in a thin layer, remove damage and rotten areas.
- Use a grater to chop the vegetable if you plan to make potato pancakes in the future.
- To prepare the filling for dumplings you can use meat grinder If such dishes are not included in the future menu, then you can use chopped potatoes for porridge.
- Shredded potatoes must be transferred to a sieve or colander and squeezed thoroughly.
- The result should be a brown liquid and dry potato mass.
- Do not touch it for 10 minutes, and then carefully drain it - there will be a creamy sediment at the bottom - this is starch.
- Fill it with cool tap water, mix thoroughly and wait until sediment appears at the bottom.
- Follow the procedure three more times until the water is clear and the sediment is pure white.
- Place parchment or thick cloth on a tray. Remove the sediment from the water and place it on a tray. Leave to dry at room temperature.
- 10 hours later Mash the half-dried starch into small pieces and wait until it dries completely. This may take two to three days.
- Dried starch Grind to a powder using a rolling pin or masher. This applies to the case of its further use in jelly.
- Everything else will require a good grind, so use a coffee grinder.
To store the resulting starch, it must be placed in a dry container. This can be a plastic container or a glass jar and close the lid tightly. Avoid exposure to moisture.
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