Several Main Types of Starch

Starch is commonly known by people as a kind of edible material. It is white and 

odorless powder derived from corn, potato and cassava etc. Starch is directly edible and can also be accessories of wine and cooking for irreplaceable effect. Below is a brief introduction to several main types of starch, classified by the original materials.

Corn Starch

Corn starch ,also called corn powder or raw starch, and soybean starch in some places(this is indeed quite rare), is starch refined from corn. Corn starch takes a great percentage in starch supply. However, the properties of corn starch is not as good as that of starch from potatoes. The so-called raw starch in Hongkong mainly refers to corn starch.

Potato Starch

Potato starch is manufactured with potatoes as the raw materials. it enjoys a great popularity in household use as thickening starch for it stable properties. Potato starch has characteristics of being sticky, fine texture and pure white color and comparably poor water absorption. It will condense into transparent sticky semisolid when heated with water. In Chinese cooking(especially Taiwan cuisine), potato starch is usually mixed thoroughly with water and added to other cooked dishes as thickening starch; it will make soup look thick, transparent and shiny. People tend to use corn starch when making pastry because soup thickened by potato starch will easily turn dilute when it cools down; however, soup with corn starch does not change that much when temperature decreases. Besides, it should be noted that potato starch cannot be mixed directly with boiling water or other hot food for it will immediately clot into blocks or chunks.

Sweet Potato Starch

Sweet potato starch is characterized by it’s large water absorbing capacity; however, the viscosity of sweet potato starch is comparably poor and it also lacks shiny and attractive color. Sweet potato starch is often seen as pellets, coarse pellets or fine pellets and people prefer coarse pellets in family use. Similar to potato starch, sweet potato starch will also become sticky semisolid when mixed and heated with water.

Arrowroot Starch 

Arrowroot starch is made with a kind of perennial plant call “arrowroot”. The underground stem part of arrowroot is almost pure starch and arrowroot starch is produced after julienne, cleaning, drying and grinding of the stems. Arrowroot starch also has the same function of thickening soups as corn starch and potato starch. The difference is corn starch and potato starch need a high temperature to thicken soups while the reaction temperature of arrowroot starch does not need to be that high. Thus, arrowroot starch is always the first choice while people are making some foods with eggs for eggs easily agglomerate under high temperature. Some recipes call it flour arrowroot.

Tapioca Starch

Tapioca starch, also Thailand starch for Thailand is one of the largest supplier country in the world, second only to Nigeria and Brazil. Tapioca starch enjoys a great popularity in Taiwan; the import of tapioca starch from southeast Asia to Taiwan also rapidly increased these years. Tapioca starch turns transparent while heated with water and has the special texture of elasticity.

Sago Palm Starch

Sago palm starch is not common in China.Sago, native to Indonesia, is bead shaped particles made of tapioca, corn and wheat starch.

On islands of some countries like Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua and New Guinea, there is a kind of tree called metroxylon sagu. Trunks of the tree are rough and straight and contains large quantities of starch.

Mung Bean Starch 

Mung bean starch is the best thickening starch, but it is rarely used because it’s yield is quite small.Mung bean starch has the main features of great viscosity, strong water absorbing force and shiny white color.