How to Make Starch at Home

Every housewife has an indispensable tool in the kitchen - starch. Its use is widespread not only in cooking, but also in skin care and even in various colds. But what to do if you need starch and can't buy it in the store? In such cases, tips on cooking starch at home will help.

Starch is a loose powder of white, sometimes yellowish color. In essence - it is the same flour, only it does not contain gluten, so it is problematic to make baked goods from such "flour". It is obtained from starch-containing products. These are tuber potatoes, corn, wheat. In addition to these three products, rice, barley, peas, and rye can also be identified. But these products are very rarely used to make starch.

The use of starch began in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, initially in the dressing factories, and the basis for it was wheat. Obtaining the product from potatoes was not common. Corn for starch began to be used only in the middle of the 19th century of the last century. Distribution abroad began much later than in Russia.

Where starch is used

This is a fairly versatile product. Its properties are known not only in cooking, but also in many other industries. Experienced housewives know at least 10 interesting properties of potato starch and can use it for the most unusual purposes. They clean with it, with its help get rid of an unpleasant smell.

Cooking

The use of starch in the kitchen is not limited to kissel. With its help, you can prepare many different sauces, desserts. It is used for breading, thanks to the starch the crust turns tasty, crispy. It is often added to cream soup to make it thicker. Because of its ability to absorb liquid, it is used in baking. Biscuits, rolls, buns with it turn out even more airy.

Useful tip! If starch is added to the flour, then the dough should be kneaded with milk, with lots of spices, because the taste of baked goods on starch is unexpressive.

Medicine

Many fans of folk medicine actively use starch to treat colds. They gargle the throat with it, make various drinks with the addition of honey and eggs. It also helps with diseases of the cardiovascular system and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

Cosmetology

Starch helps to rejuvenate the skin of the hands, reduce inflammation and soften rough skin.

Animal Care

It is used when combing out pet hair.

Household

Housewives actively use starch throughout the home. With its help bring in a neat appearance shirts, wooden furniture, plush toys.

Types of starch

Despite the large number of products with a pronounced starch content, only three basic types are popular. They are not difficult to find in stores and to make at home.

1. Potato starch is the most common and easily available type of starch. Almost any potato is suitable for obtaining such a product, the exception is a young vegetable.
2. Corn starch is a starch based on corn. It is most often used in cooking, unlike potato starch. Its degree of thickening is less, so baking from it turns out more airy.
3. Wheat - made on the basis of wheat. It is used rather rarely, but the taste qualities of wheat starch are superior to potato starch. That is why it is used for the preparation of various dishes and improve their quality.

How to make starch at home

Cooking from any of the above products is limited to the three main components:

1. The product from which the starch will be made (potato, corn or wheat).
2. Cold water.
3. Natural cloth (preferably cotton).

And, of course, the main thing is time. In order for the starch to turn out perfectly crumbly, did not lose its properties for a long time and stored without problems, it must be allowed to dry well. Therefore, the only disadvantage in the preparation is a long complete drying. The minimum is three days.

Potato

The amount of starch will directly depend on the number of potato tubers. Therefore, the more potatoes - the more starch.

First you need to clean the tubers, remove all the spoiled parts, "eyes" and rinse with running water. If the potatoes are small, it is enough to wash them with a stiff brush. Only the starch from the unpeeled potatoes will have a darker color.

The potatoes need to be shredded. For this purpose, a fine grater, blender, meat grinder will do. Put the shredded potatoes in a large bowl, pour cold water, mix thoroughly. Strain the potatoes with water through gauze folded in half. Squeeze the solid part (pulp) well and remove. To obtain starch, it is no longer needed.

Useful tip! From the remnants of potatoes you can make a delicious dish - draniki, they are known to many as kartoplyaniki. To do this, you need to add an egg, salt, pepper, pressed garlic and some flour or ready-made potato starch to the pulp, mix everything thoroughly. Fry in oil, laying the potatoes with a spoon. Fry both sides until golden. Serve with sour cream, preferably hot.

Let the water stand for 20 minutes. Starch will sink to the bottom when interacting with water. Then you need to drain the water, leaving a sediment at the bottom brown - that is the starch. Re-pour it with water, stir it thoroughly and let it stand again. Rinse the starch on average 3-4 times, until transparent water and white or light yellow color of the product.

The resulting starch should be placed on parchment or a natural cotton cloth (you can use a clean kitchen towel) in a thin layer and left to dry at room temperature.

After 10-12 hours, stir in the starch. It will take a long time to dry completely - about three days. The finished product can be ground with a coffee grinder and transferred to a container with a tight lid. Potato starch is ready.

Corn

Preparation of such starch is different from potato starch. Here a certain proportion of water and corn is used, also here you can not do without high temperature.

1. Corn thoroughly rinse and grind well.
2. Pour it with cold water, observing the proportion. One teaspoon of corn requires one tablespoon of water.
3. Whip the diluted corn with a whisk or mixer, pour in a glass of hot water and stir until it thickens.
4. Place the thick mixture on the fire and heat for one minute. The high temperature will help to get rid of the aftertaste.
5. Allow the mixture to cool and spread it on a cloth until it is completely dry, as with potato starch.

Liquid starch for clothes

You will need cornstarch and water for preparation.

1. Pour 60 milliliters of cold water into a bowl and add 8 grams of dry cornstarch. Stir until the dry starch is completely dissolved.
2. In an enamel saucepan boil 480 milliliters of water, stirring it, pour a thin stream of water and dry starch, without removing the pan from the fire.
3. You can add a couple of drops of essential oil to the starch to give it a light fragrance. Choose an oil on the basis of its properties. Lavender - soothes, lemon - improves mood, spruce - an ideal helper in the fight against stress.
4. Boil the mixture for one minute.
5. After cooling, pour the mixture into an atomizer. If oil was added during the cooking process, use a glass container. Otherwise, the oil can corrode the plastic.

It is very easy to use such starch, just spray it on the clothes after washing and let them dry. For a large volume of fabric you can rinse it in liquid starch, squeeze it well and iron it. With this use, you will have to increase the amount of ingredients for cooking.

Wheat

Getting starch at home from wheat is quite difficult, so housewives have found a cunning way to get it from flour. The process is quite time consuming and long. But wheat starch is highly valued in cooking. At the same time, because of the difficulty of obtaining it, it is difficult to find on the shelves in stores. And the cost of ready-made wheat starch is higher than potato and even corn starch.

For the resulting product to be of good quality, you must also take care of the quality of the flour from which it will be prepared. For the starch is suitable flour of the highest grade.

Wheat flour should be mixed with water until the consistency of not too dense dough. Then begins the most interesting thing - the dough needs to be washed. To do this, pour cold water into a large bowl and knead the dough in it. As the water turns white, pour it into a separate container and pour a clean one. Repeat the procedure until the color of the water stops changing.

Water colored white should stand for some time, until a sediment appears at the bottom of the container. The water should be drained and the sediment dried.

Useful tip! Do not throw away the rest of the dough washed from the starch. Such dough is called "seitan" or as it is called by vegetarians - "wheat meat". It has no flavor, but its structure is quite dense and the nutritional value is high. Seitan is boiled in water with the addition of your favorite spices and then cooked as usual meat, only reducing the cooking time. Seitan is fried, added to salads, made into kebabs and many other different dishes.

Why starch should be stored in a container after drying

After making any kind of starch, it must be poured into a glass or plastic container and put away in a cupboard where it is out of the sun's rays. If these rules are not followed, it will spoil. When exposed to moisture, starch absorbs it and loses its properties.

After opening the package, it is better to pour it into a container or close the bag with paper clips to prevent moisture from getting in.

Starch also absorbs odors. Therefore, if it has absorbed the smell (of garlic standing next to it, for example), all foods cooked with this starch will smell of garlic - baked goods, quiche, and cream soup.

Various small insects that can get into flour, sugar or rice also don't mind living in starch.

Storage Conditions and Times

The rules for starch storage at home are not much different from the recommendations for any loose product:

1. Starch should be stored in a closed airtight container or in the factory packaging.
2. For storage it is better to choose a dark and cool place with a temperature of no more than 25-30 degrees and humidity of no more than 75%.
3. Only starch in a sealed original packaging can be stored in the refrigerator.

Shelf life of the different types differs slightly:

• potato can stand and not go bad for two years;
• Corn starch lasts no more than a year and a half;
• The shelf life of wheat starch is the shortest - one year.

Opening the package does not affect the shelf life of the product. Using expired starch is possible, but not recommended. Of course, with proper storage the properties of the product will not be lost, but the cost per bag of starch is not so great to use a product whose shelf life has expired.

This is a versatile product that will help in many situations. It should be in every home. Today it is not difficult to buy potato or corn starch. But sometimes you have to doubt the purchased product. Therefore, having starch at home that has been cooked without various additives is not only convenient, but also useful, especially since the process will not take much effort.

Photo starch