Obtaining potato starch
Potato starch is considered the most popular carbohydrate. Almost every housewife not only knows how it should look, but also knows how to cook it with her own hands. There is nothing complicated in this procedure. The use of the product in cooking allows you to prepare not only sauce, but also delicious jelly.
Obtaining potato starch
Types of starch
There are several types of this powder:
- grain;
- root.
Grain types include regular wheat flour or corn product. The root includes molasses, potato powder and amaranth. The grain is denser and needs a high temperature to dissolve. It can solidify if cooled. The sauces that are made from this variety are denser and have a pronounced color.
Root species, in particular potato starch, have a short cooking time. All dishes that are prepared from them have a transparent texture and do not freeze when cooled. A potato product can dissolve even at low temperatures (from 10 ° C and above), especially since it is quite easy to recognize its taste. It always resembles a little raw potato.
Potato products thicken much faster compared to other types. Its granules are a little fragile, therefore, as soon as the dish reaches the desired thickness, all the granules begin to dissolve, and a homogeneous mass is created.
Mass fraction of the product
It is impossible to accurately determine the mass fraction of starch. There are varieties of potatoes with both medium carbohydrate content (about 25%) and high (over 30%). Usually, after food processing, they acquire friability and mealy. Ideal for mashed potatoes or thick creamy soup. If the potatoes are low in carbohydrates, then they are only suitable for making fries, uniforms or vegetable salads.
The mass fraction depends on a large number of factors. Often this indicator is influenced by the storage conditions of the product, the shelf life and the level of maturation. Long-term laboratory tests should be carried out to determine the starch level. But there is 1 way out that allows you to determine the share at home. This is done by paying attention to the appearance of the fetus. The more pink it has (on the peel), the higher the starch level in this variety. You can use medical honey. If you drop it on potatoes, then a shade of blue will show the approximate level. A high percentage of carbohydrate content is characterized by a deep blue, up to purple.
Home cooking
Making starch isn't too hard
Making potato starch at home is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. There are several basic ways to grind root vegetables in order to create a high quality product.
Some people prefer to use meat grinders.This method is faster, but with a grater, you can get a better product, because you will see damage to the internal structure of the potato.
Correct chopping
If you decide to cook potato starch yourself, then you can do this using absolutely any potato, even leftovers from last year. To get homemade starch from potatoes, you don't have to choose high-quality root vegetables for a long time.
- If time is running out, it is not necessary to peel the root crop. You just need to rinse it under copious amounts of running water and remove any damaged or rotten parts.
- After that, you need to finely chop the fruit with a grater. You will have to pour cold water on the grater every 2-3 minutes so that the pulp accumulates in it.
To obtain high quality potato starch, peel and rinse the potatoes thoroughly to remove contamination several times. After that, you can start grinding on a grater and again it will have to be often watered with cold water.
Getting carbohydrates
Once you have chopped up all of the cooked root vegetables, it is important to filter the water out of the container where the pulp has entered. To do this, strain the mixture through a fine sieve. You can use cheesecloth folded in several layers. You will have to filter it into a saucepan covered with a dense layer of enamel. Now the mixture is left in this position for 3-5 hours so that the starch from the potatoes settles on the bottom of the pan. After that, the old water is replaced with clean water. After the specified time, you need to filter the water again according to the same principle. The starch should be soaked until a high-quality carbohydrate product is obtained.
After you have managed to squeeze the water out of the starch from the potatoes at home, the wet starch should be spread out on a dense cover (board, plywood or parchment) and placed in the oven for 1 hour. It is important to pay attention to the fact that the drying temperature should be 35-40 ° C. If this temperature is exceeded, the product will look like a paste. You can dry the substance in an ordinary dry and warm room. How dry it is can be determined by touching the substance. Visually, it may appear that the carbohydrate is completely dry, although it will still be damp to the touch.
Once it's dry, lay it out on a board and roll it over it with a kitchen rolling pin. It will acquire a more crumbly structure. Do not pay attention to the fact that homemade potato starch has a more yellow color. A natural product is characterized by a yellow color, but only in production it is slightly discolored, it becomes modified. A package of starch weighing up to 200 g is obtained from 20 potatoes.
Conclusion
Starch is considered one of the most popular carbohydrates used in cooking. Despite the fact that it harms the body (intestinal stagnation or overweight problems), a large number of delicious dishes are made from it, because starch is harmful to the body only if a person consumes a lot of this carbohydrate per day. A small amount will even be beneficial. It's easy to prepare such a substance yourself at home. You just need to know all the intricacies of the process and carefully follow the instructions.