Properties: Starch
Starch has binding, stabilizing and thickening properties.
Note: starch is not soluble -and thus not binding- in cold water
Origin: Starch
Starch flour is obtained from potatoes. Potatoes have been cultivated for 7000 years, but only spread in Europe since the 16th century. Starch flour has only been known since the mid-19th century.
Uses: Starch
For what purpose starch is primarily used as a food ingredient
Starch is mainly used in the beverage, baking, and dairy and confectionery industries as a sweetening agent (especially as glucose syrup, dextrose). Moreover, modified starch is considered an important binding and carrier medium that is used for thickening foods - especially ready meals. As a food ingredient, modified starch is utilized particularly for noodles, bread, baked goods, or thickening agents.
Storage: Starch
Starch flour should be stored airtight, dry in a dark place. Ideally in a closable container. Ideally below 20 °C. If it is exposed to light the vitamins in the starch flour will be degraded. It should never be stored near other foods that emit odors as these can be transferred to the starch flour-
Health: Starch
Health Aspects of Consuming Starchy Foods
Although starchy foods are exclusively plants, consuming large amounts of starch is strongly discouraged. This advice is based on the fact that from a chemical standpoint, starch is pure sugar. Therefore, daily consumption of starchy foods should also not be too high, although it does not inherently pose any health risks. Especially since the intake of essential trace elements and vital substances often accompanies starch consumption.
Season of Starch: year-round
Starch taste: slightly sweet
Description of the Food Starch – Natural Occurrence and Properties
Starch is formed within the cells responsible for it during plant photosynthesis and is assigned to the group of polysaccharides – so-called complex sugars. Therefore, natural occurrences are mainly found in chloroplasts – that is, green plants – as well as in various types of algae. As certainly the best-known sources of starch, wheat, corn or potatoes can be mentioned, which contain corresponding wheat and cornstarch or potato starch respectively. In addition to this in the Asian region, so-called rice starch is also a common food.
Formation of Starch as an Assimilation Product during Photosynthesis
During carbon dioxide uptake by plants, small grains settle within plant cells. These reserve substances are insoluble and osmotically active and serve the cells as energy stores. Accordingly, storage primarily occurs in the tissue of plant seeds, tubers, and roots.
Significance of Starch as a Food for Humans
The intake of starch – regardless of which plant species – is split into more manageable sugar units by special enzymes during digestion – so-called mono-, di- and oligosaccharides – and thus made available to the human organism as an energy supplier. Depending on the nature of the absorbed starch, it can be divided into quickly digestible starch (e.g., cooked vegetables), easily digestible starch (e.g., raw food), and resistant starch (e.g., dietary fiber).
History of the Discovery of Starch as a Food
As one of the most important carbohydrates that humans have found in their diet since time immemorial, starch as a food has been known since antiquity (approximately 1000 to 500 AD). When people began engaging with agriculture and animal husbandry, starch was initially obtained from wheat or rice. Later, around the 15th and 16th centuries, food starch was also derived from potatoes. However, the production of food starch as such remained unknown in many places until late medieval times. Only the development of appropriate machinery and centrifuges at the beginning of the industrial age made starch an increasingly important food.
Eco-logical Aspects of Starch Extraction from Plant Foods
Wheat and potato cultivation – especially as European and American main sources of food starch – are considered largely environmentally friendly and cultivated. However, rice cultivation for the production of rice starch is under a questionable star because rice is sometimes subject to high heavy metal contamination due to poor industrial and environmental conditions in developing countries.