Bulla is a starchy white powder, harvested in Ethiopia from the Enset plant. To make it, the stem and leaf sheaths of the plant are scraped into a pulp. The juice is squeezed out of this, and the juice is then evaporated down to a white powder. This powder can be stored for years. It…
Starch
Cornstarch
Cornstarch © Denzil Green Cornstarch (called “cornflour” in the UK) is a fine smooth white powder, not yellow at all, made from the very centre of dried corn kernels (the “endosperms.”) It has twice the thickening oomph that wheat flour does, but it can also have the same starchy taste as flour unless it is…
Konnyaku Powder
Konnyaku Powder is a starch made from konjac roots. The roots are peeled, and then made by either boiling and mashing them, and letting the mash dry to a powder, or letting the slices dry, and grinding them. The powder is available in both its natural state, which is black, and in a filtered, bleached…
Kudzu Starch
Kudzu Starch is an expensive starch used in Japan to thicken dishes with, or to coat foods before frying them. You can buy it in chunks, flaked or powdered, and in several grades. The most expensive is the pure, white powder, which is 83% starch. A lesser grade is a slightly-greyish colour, and will be…
Potato Starch
Potato Starch is a fine, powdery thickener consisting of starch extracted from potatoes. It looks, feels and acts a great deal like cornstarch. Potato Starch is often called Potato Flour. Don’t you confuse the two, however, as right now somewhere in the world some poor soul is staring at a disaster on the stove owing…
Sago Pearls
Sago Pearls are small granules of starch that are virtually flavourless and have no smell. They can be white or light-brownish, and can be a little smaller or a little larger than a mustard seed. Commercially, the starch pearls are made by mixing sago starch with water, having machines rub the paste into grains, and…
Sago Starch
Sago Starch is made from Sago palm trees. It is a white starch, 84% pure, with a slight reddish hue and a faint, mouldy odour to it. Otherwise, it doesn’t really have any taste, fat or protein to it. With enough magnification, the grains of starch (.015 to .080 mm. in length) are revealed to…
Starch
Starch is, roughly speaking, a substance made up of sugar molecules bound together. It is produced by plants. Plants make glucose during photosynthesis, and store it mainly as starch in their seeds, and underground parts (roots, tubers and corms), and sometimes also in leaves, in plants such as Enset. In your body, starch gets broken…
Ube Powder
Ube Powder is a purple starch made in the Philippines from a yam called in English “purple yam.” The yam has rough, gnarly skin. The starch is slightly sweet, and colours the foods it is used in, such as desserts and jams (in the Philippines, the jam made with it is called “ube halaya.”) In…
Warabi Starch
Warabi Starch is a very light-coloured powder made from the roots of Warabi ferns. The ferns need to be at least 1 or 2 years old before they are harvested. The roots are ground to a powder, which is then put into a water solution, and filtered. The powder is then dried for 1 1/2…
Wheat Starch
Wheat Starch is made from ground wheat. Water is used to wash the starch away from the ground wheat, leaving the gluten behind. The starch is then extracted from the captured water. It can often obtained as the byproduct of making gluten flour. Wheat Starch is made primarily in Europe and Australia, owing to wheat…