Potato Starch
General characteristics:
Potato starch is extracted from potato tubers in the process of mechanical grinding, washing-out and refinement. Starch is a white, loose powder which virtually does not dissolve in cold water.
When mixed with water and heated up, at a certain temperature (depending on its kind) potato starch becomes a homogeneous, opalescent paste characterized by high viscosity.
Starch-based pastes and gels are characterized by low stability and high sensitivity to temperature and the presence of water and salt, which significantly limits the use of natural potato starch as a thickener and gelling agent.
When mixed with water and heated up, at a certain temperature (depending on its kind) potato starch becomes a homogeneous, opalescent paste characterized by high viscosity.
Starch-based pastes and gels are characterized by low stability and high sensitivity to temperature and the presence of water and salt, which significantly limits the use of natural potato starch as a thickener and gelling agent.
Properties:
Thickener.
Product use:
Potato starch is widely used as an ingredient of and additive to foodstuffs, among others in meat and deli products, canned meat, vegetables and fish, breadstuff and flour products as a thickener for deserts, soups and sauces. It is also the main ingredient of pudding and fruit-flavoured starch-jelly.
Owing to its high chemical reactivity, it is used as a raw material for the production of numerous derivatives, as well as glucose, syrups and sorbitol.