Every housewife in the kitchen has an indispensable tool - starch. Its use is widespread not only in cooking, but also in skin care and even for various colds. But what if you need starch, but there is no way to buy it in the store? In such cases, tips for making starch at home will help.

Starch is a free-flowing powder of white, sometimes yellowish color. In fact, this is the same flour, only there is no gluten in the composition, so it is problematic to make pastries from such “flour”. It is obtained from starchy foods. These are tuber potatoes, corn, wheat. In addition to these three products, rice, barley, peas and rye can also be distinguished. But for the production of starch, these products are used very rarely.

Starch began to be used in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, initially at clothes factories, and wheat served as the basis for it. Getting a 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 is starch 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 are cleaned, with its help they get rid of an unpleasant smell.

cooking

The use of starch in the kitchen is not limited to jelly. With it, you can cook many different sauces, desserts. It is used for breading, thanks to the starch, the crust turns out delicious, crispy. It is often added to cream soup to thicken it. Due to its ability to absorb liquid, it is used in baking. Biscuits, rolls, buns with it are even more airy.

Helpful advice! If starch is added to the flour, then the dough should be kneaded in milk, with a large amount of spices, since the taste of baking on starch is inexpressive.

Medicine

Many admirers of traditional medicine actively use starch to treat colds. They gargle with them, 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, relieve inflammation and soften rough skin.

Animal care

It is used when combing the hair of animals.

household items

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

Types of starch

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

1. Potato - the most common and easily accessible type of starch. To obtain such a product, almost any potato is suitable, with the exception of a young vegetable.
2. Corn starch is a starch made from corn. It is most often used in cooking, unlike potato. It has a lower degree of thickening, so baking from it is more airy.
3. Wheat - made from wheat. It is used quite rarely, but the taste of wheat starch is superior to potato starch. Therefore, it is used to prepare various dishes and improve their quality.

How to make starch at home

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

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

And, of course, the main thing is time. In order for the starch to turn out to be perfectly crumbly, not to lose its properties for a long time and to be stored without problems, it must be allowed to dry well. Therefore, the only drawback in cooking 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 damaged parts, "eyes" and rinse with running water. If the potatoes are small, then it is enough to wash them with a stiff brush. Only starch from unpeeled potatoes will have a darker color.

Potatoes need to be chopped. For this, a fine grater, blender, meat grinder is suitable. Place chopped potatoes in a large bowl, cover with cold water, mix thoroughly. Strain potatoes with water through cheesecloth folded in half. The hard part (pulp) is well squeezed out and removed. It is no longer needed to obtain starch.

Helpful advice! From the remains of potatoes, you can cook a delicious dish - potato pancakes, many of them are known as potato pancakes. To do this, add an egg, salt, pepper, crushed garlic and a little flour or ready-made potato starch to the pulp, mix everything thoroughly. Fry in oil, spreading the potatoes with a spoon. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with sour cream, preferably hot.

Let the water stand for about 20 minutes. Starch, when interacting with water, will sink to the bottom. Then it is necessary to drain the water, leaving a brown precipitate at the bottom - this is starch. Re-fill it with water, mix thoroughly and let stand again. It is necessary to wash the starch an average of 3-4 times, until clear water and a white or light yellow color of the product are obtained.

Put the resulting starch on parchment or natural cotton cloth (you can use a clean kitchen towel) in a thin layer and leave to dry at room temperature.

After 10-12 hours, mix 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

The preparation of such starch is different from potato starch. A certain proportion of water and corn is used here, and high temperature is also indispensable.

1. Rinse the corn thoroughly and grind well.
2. Pour it with cold water, observing the proportion. One teaspoon of corn will require one tablespoon of water.
3. Beat diluted corn with a whisk or mixer, pour in a glass of hot water and mix until thick.
4. Put the thick mixture on fire and heat for one minute. The high temperature will help get rid of the taste.
5. Allow the mixture to cool and spread out on fabrics until completely dry, as is the case with potato starch.

Liquid starch for clothes

For cooking, you need corn starch and water.

1. Pour 60 milliliters of cold water into a bowl and add 8 grams of dry corn starch. Stir until the dry starch is completely dissolved.
2. Boil 480 milliliters of water in an enameled pan, stirring it, pour in a mixture of water and dry starch in a thin stream, without removing the pan from the heat.
3. To give the starch a light aroma, you can add a couple of drops of essential oil. Oil to choose based on its properties. Lavender - calms, lemon - improves mood, spruce - the perfect assistant in the fight against stress.
4. Boil the mixture for a minute.
5. After cooling, pour the mixture into a spray bottle. If oil was added during the cooking process, then you need to use a glass container. Otherwise, the oil can corrode the plastic.

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

Wheat

Getting starch at home from wheat is quite difficult, so housewives have found a tricky way to get it from flour. The process is quite laborious and long. But wheat starch is highly valued in cooking. At the same time, due to the difficulties of obtaining it, it is difficult to find it on the shelves in stores. And the cost of finished wheat starch is higher than potato and even corn starch.

In order for the resulting product to be of good quality, it is necessary to take care of the quality of the flour from which it will be prepared. For starch, premium flour is suitable.

Wheat flour must be mixed with water until a dough is obtained that is not too dense. Then the fun begins - 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, drain it into a separate container and pour it clean. Repeat the procedure until the color of the water stops changing.

White-colored water should stand for some time until sediment appears at the bottom of the container. The water must be drained and the sediment dried.

Helpful advice! Do not throw away the remains of the dough washed from starch. This dough is called "seitan" or as it is called by vegetarians - "wheat meat". It has no taste, 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 like regular meat, only reducing the cooking time. Seitan is fried, added to salads, kebabs and many other different dishes are made from it.

Why starch needs to be stored in a container after drying

After preparing any kind of starch, it must be poured into a glass or plastic container and put away in a cabinet where the sun's rays do not fall. If these rules are not followed, it will deteriorate. When moisture gets in, starch absorbs it and loses its properties.

After opening the package, it is better to pour it into a container or close the package with stationery clothespins to prevent moisture from entering.

Starch also absorbs odors. Therefore, if it has absorbed the smell (for example, of garlic standing next to it), then all products prepared with the addition of this starch will smell like garlic - pastries, jelly, and cream soup.

Various small insects that can penetrate flour, sugar or rice are also not averse to living in starch.

Terms and conditions of storage

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

1. Starch must be stored in a closed airtight container or in its original 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 a humidity of no more than 75%.
3. Only starch in a closed original packaging is subject to storage in the refrigerator.

The shelf life of different types is slightly different:

• potato can stand and not deteriorate for two years;
• corn is stored for no more than a year and a half;
• the shelf life of wheat is the shortest - one year.

Opening the package does not affect the shelf life of the product. You can use expired starch, but it is not recommended. Of course, with proper storage, the properties of the product will not be lost, but the cost of one package of starch is not so high as 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. To date, it is not difficult to buy potato or corn starch. But sometimes you have to doubt the purchased product. Therefore, the presence of starch at home, which was prepared without various additives, is not only convenient, but also useful, especially since the process does not take much effort.

Starch is used as an additive to a variety of dishes. It can be potato and corn. His choice depends on the preferences of the person. If you have a desire, then you can easily try to make potato starch and corn starch yourself at home. It won't take long, 30 minutes on average. How to make starch from potatoes and corn will be described below.

Ingredients and fixtures for a homemade product

To prepare potato starch, we need:

• potatoes (you can take small or frozen ones - this will not affect the taste in any way)
• Bowl
• grater, juicer, blender, meat grinder or vegetable cutter (what is at hand at home)
• cold drinking water
• cheesecloth or fine sieve

If you prefer corn starch, then for its independent production you will need the same list of necessary devices, but the main component will no longer be potatoes, but corn.

How to prepare potato starch?

Many housewives love to cook food from natural products, and starch is no exception. How to make starch from potatoes yourself at home? As a rule, it is not very difficult to prepare a starch product from potatoes. The main desire, time and availability of everything you need.

The cooking sequence is simple and looks like this:

• Potato tubers must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt by washing them well under running water. Small potatoes and damaged ones are also suitable here. If there are spoiled places on vegetables or rot, then these areas should be cut off. Potatoes don't need to be peeled.

• The next step is chopping the potatoes. For this, any of the above devices is suitable. How you do it doesn't matter. In general, the result should be something like a puree.
• Pour cold water into the resulting potato mass, in a ratio of 1: 1. Next, mix thoroughly. When stirred, the starch from the potato gets into the water. As a result, the potatoes are washed. It is for this purpose that it is necessary to stir the whole mass very well.
• The next step is to filter the potatoes. To do this, immediately after mixing, without allowing the mass to thicken, strain it through a prepared piece of gauze or a fine sieve. An enamel pan is a good container for this case. But the potato mass is no longer needed and can be thrown away
• The filtered liquid must be left for a while so that it settles. After a short period of time, you will notice that the starch made is at the bottom, and the liquid has become transparent on top. In order not to loosen the settled starchy potato product, this clear water should be carefully drained. After that, the potatoes can be washed again with water, removing starch residues from it. It is recommended to repeat this procedure 2 times.

• The final step in making homemade potato starch is drying it. To do this, put the mass that has settled to the bottom on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and send it to the oven until completely dry. The temperature in the oven should not be more than 40 ° C. If starch is not in a hurry for you, you can leave the starch mass to dry on a baking sheet in the fresh air and it will gradually dry out on its own
• When the made starch becomes crumbly, roll it over it with a rolling pin, or knead it in your palms. This is necessary in order to remove the formed lumps.

The resulting homemade potato starch is recommended to be poured into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid to prevent moisture.

Self-cooked potato starch will differ in color from the purchased one. Homemade starch is not white, but slightly yellow, and this is its natural color. Just a blue dye is added to the purchased one, which makes its color white. Your product as a result turns out without any chemical additives and is more useful.

How to prepare cornstarch?

Making cornstarch is similar to a homemade recipe for the potato kind. Naturally, the main product is corn. It should be ground and also poured with cool water in a ratio of 1: 1, that is, 1 tsp. corn + 1 tbsp. l. water. All this mixture must be shaken and add one glass of hot water to it. Stir everything until the mixture thickens. Then put on fire for 1 minute. This is necessary in order to get rid of the starchy taste.

With these proportions, you will get a small part of the starch, somewhere around 1 cup. If you need more, then you need to calculate in accordance with these proportions.

Cooking starch at home is not at all difficult. I am guided by the above recipes and, most importantly, by desire, you can make a starch product that will be more useful and economical on the material side. And the food will taste even better.

Starch is a fairly common source of energy in the human diet. It is found not only in potatoes, but also in many foods that we eat every day. Starch is one of the products of photosynthesis and is quite widespread among plants, where it acts as a reserve of substances. Thus, a high content of starch (about 80%) is observed in the composition of representatives of cereal crops - in grains of rice, wheat, corn. In potato tubers, the starch content is less - approximately 20%.
Starch itself is a white powder, soluble in hot water and insoluble in cold water. Getting it is not a laborious process.
Let's get started!

Experiment - getting starch from potatoes with your own hands

So, for the experiment, we need four large potatoes that need to be peeled.

Next, grate our potatoes on a grater.

This destroys plant cells that contain starch.
After grinding, pour the potato chips with warm water, which should cover it a little.

Starch immediately begins to stand out, and we just need to "scrape" it a little with our hand into the solution. When it seems that all the starch is washed off the potatoes, pour the solution into another container.

We do not let the chips seep through with the liquid with our hand, but at this stage this is not critical.
After a couple of times we wash the chips. We don’t need it anymore, you can use it to cook something or just throw it away.
At this stage, it is necessary to let the solution brew for about an hour, so that the starch settles to the bottom of the vessel.

The water in the solution turns brown due to the decomposition of other organic substances contained in the potato.
When the starch settles, drain most of the water.

The solution remaining in the vessel is filtered through a sieve and washed with a small amount of water.

Let the solution settle again so that the starch settles.

After half an hour, you can continue the experiment. Drain the cloudy water, and wash the starch that has collected at the bottom with distilled water and mix.

Let the starch settle again.

Drain the cloudy water and repeat the washing again. We do this so that we have a pure substance at the output.
After the second procedure, spread the sediment with a spoon on plain paper, laying a paper towel under it, and leave to dry.
After a day, the starch will dry out, and we will get a white crispy powder.

The yield of pure substance was 47 grams.

Conclusion

The experience turned out to be quite visual and is great for introducing a child to a large and interesting science - chemistry.
The resulting starch can later be used in food, or as a reagent for some chemical experiments.
All spectacular experiments!

Video:

Starch is considered an integral component of plants, seeds, fruits. Ready friable substance is widely used in industry and everyday life. The most commonly used starch is made from potatoes. The composition is easiest to obtain from tubers, and its cost is also the lowest. Often, it is potato starch that housewives add to the dough, prepare jelly, or wash bed linen with it.

Potato starch at home

1. To prepare starch, you will need potatoes, a grater and a sharp knife. If you take 2 kg. root crops, about 85 gr. loose white powder. You will spend about 60 hours preparing starch. The preparation process itself takes about 35 minutes.
2. Rinse the root crops, remove the uniform. Get rid of damaged areas and sprouts. Run the potatoes through a food processor or blender. Send the finished mixture to a sieve, strain well. As a result, you will get a brownish liquid. Dry potato mass can be used for potato pancakes.
3. Leave the liquid composition in the container for about half an hour, in the allotted time a cream-colored precipitate forms - starch. Carefully drain off excess potato juice. Next, add cold water to the container with the substance, mix thoroughly. Wait again until a precipitate forms. Carry out manipulations until the water is clear and the substance is white.
4. Take a suitable tray, cover it with a cloth or parchment paper. Try to drain as much liquid as possible. Then put the starch on a tray, let the substance dry at room temperature. After 9 hours, knead the dried layer of powder, break up all the lumps, wait until it dries completely.
5. To dry the starch, if possible, select a room with low air humidity, the duration of the procedure will depend on this factor. In extreme cases, you will need about 3 days to complete the process. After drying the starch, small lumps may form, grind the substance into dust using a coffee grinder.
6. Powdered starch can be added to various dishes (pastries, jelly, etc.). Store the substance in a dry closed container. Choose a suitable glass or plastic container. Be sure to check if the lid fits snugly. Every time you use starch, make sure that moisture does not get into the composition.

Rice starch at home

1. Take 1 kg. regular non-steamed rice, rinse well and fill with water so that the liquid covers the composition by 3 cm. Pour 95 gr. baking soda. Mix the composition, leave for 12 hours. After the specified time, drain the water, rinse the rice well, put it on a tray, let the product dry.
2. Divide the rice into small portions, place in a blender bowl, grind until a homogeneous gruel. Pour the resulting rice mass with cold water, pour 80 gr. table soda. Mix thoroughly, leave to infuse for 6-7 hours, while stirring occasionally (about 6 times).
3. After a certain time, filter the product through a fine sieve. Cover the grid of the household appliance with a dense layer of gauze. Mix the composition well, start draining through the filter at hand into the container so that there is no sediment left. After the manipulation, get rid of the substance that has formed on the tissue. Wait a while for the starch to settle.
4. Carefully drain the liquid from the pan without shaking the water. Divide the process into several stages, so the starch will settle, and you, in turn, will drain the maximum possible liquid. Collect the remaining water with a syringe.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, lay out the wet starch in a thin layer, allow the product to dry. Once the process is completed, pass the finished composition through a coffee grinder. If you did everything right, then from 1 kg. rice at the output will be approximately 800 gr. pure starch.

1. If you are a big fan of potatoes, a vegetable, it does not pose any harm to the body. Therefore, you can eat at least 5 kg. root crops during the day. Unfortunately, there is one “but”: when eating potato dishes in the daily diet, the menu should not contain any other products.
2. Natural starch a priori cannot harm the human body. The modified and refined white powder, which is sold on store shelves, is detrimental to health. Unlike starch of vegetable origin, the production composition is subjected to many chemical treatments.
3. Starch is a pure carbohydrate with a complex chemical network. The substance is found in almost all fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts and legumes. The white powder is easily absorbed by the human body.
4. After consumption, starch is converted into glucose. Based on this chemical process, a person in a short time receives a tangible charge of energy and vigor. If you prefer to eat starchy fresh foods, they should be eaten in combination with fats.
5. Such a move will enrich the body with microelements, vitamins and minerals. Getting the maximum benefit from vegetables, you need to cook them in a steam bath, in no case fry them. Consider the fact that only natural starch has all of the above useful qualities.

To make natural healthy starch at home, you should arm yourself with patience. In the end, the result will be worth it. If you care about your health, you should not abuse purchased starch by adding it to various dishes.

Video: how to make homemade starch

The most common root crop, which is grown everywhere, choosing the right variety. Potatoes contain many different useful substances and vitamins, including easily digestible carbohydrates in the water of carbohydrates, pure carbohydrates are found in potato starch. In potato tubers, starch contains up to 18%. The best starch comes from potatoes. What is the benefit of starch? High-quality medical glucose is prepared from potato starch, which has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart muscle, and is used for infectious diseases and liver diseases. Glucose, from starch, is a component of blood replacement and anti-shock drugs. Potato starch is a component of medicines and, due to its gluing abilities, is a component of powders, pills, capsules. They contain up to 20% starch. Starch mixed with glycerin is part of many ointments and cosmetic creams.

At home, starch brewed with hot water, in the form of jelly, is used for gastrointestinal diseases, disorders and poisoning, after washing the stomach, it acts as an enveloping and protective agent for the gastric mucosa.

Starch in its pure form is used as a powder for burns and for sprinkling diaper rash and bedsores.

Starch is widely used not only in cooking, as a thickener, but also in everyday life and for technical purposes. In cold water, potato starch swells well, and when brewed in hot water, it turns into a paste and is used for gluing various surfaces, gluing wallpaper on walls, for gluing paper, cardboard, papier-mâché in the manufacture of Christmas toys, crafts and New Year's costumes, paste from starch is the safest and purest material. How to make a paste from potato starch? To do this, the starch must be ground with a small amount of water at the rate of 1 teaspoon of starch and 5 tablespoons of water. Then pour the mixture with one glass of boiling water, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. You should get a thick paste, whitish transparent. The paste is not subject to long storage, so it does not need to be cooked too much.

We all prepare jelly and starch and linen, the best way for this is natural potato starch. Starch is used to apply cosmetic masks at home. For such purposes and in such small quantities, starch can be obtained at home. Starch consumption increases with the onset of the season for picking berries and fruits. After all, there is nothing better than a delicious strawberry or blackcurrant jelly.

After you are convinced of the benefits of starch and its range of applications, we advise you to isolate starch from potatoes with your own hands at home. How to get starch yourself at home if a lot of potatoes are stored in the cellar?

During the harvest of potatoes, all cut tubers can be used to obtain starch, and in the process of storing potatoes, even in a well-equipped cellar, spoiled tubers appear. Here is such a rejected potato during the bulkhead and will go to the preparation of starch. The potatoes are not completely gone, so you can wash them and cut off the spoiled part. Frozen potatoes are also suitable for making starch.

Potatoes should be peeled, washed and cut into pieces. Then grind on a grater or in a meat grinder. You will immediately notice the appearance of released starch. The pulp prepared in this way contains cell membranes, juice and starch grains.

To separate the starch from the potato pieces, the pulp must be washed on a sieve with cold water over a basin or bucket. Get starchy milk. He must be allowed to settle, starch is heavier than water and it will gradually settle to the bottom.

After about an hour, the water must be drained, slightly twisting the container so that the remaining potato fiber also drains. Now the remaining starch must be poured with clean water and stirred. Let the starch settle again. Drain the water. So it is necessary to rinse until the water above the starch sediment is completely clear.

The last water is drained, allowing the starch to settle for 3-4 hours. Now the potato starch is almost ready. But it's still raw. It is necessary to dry potato starch by spreading it with a layer of 1.0 cm on a clean white cloth stretched over a frame or laid out on a sieve. Starch must breathe from all sides and if there is always fresh air in the room, it will dry quickly. You can dry the starch in the oven or in the oven on iron baking sheets.

Dry starch is poured into tightly closed jars or boxes for storage.