Potato Starch
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grate the raw potatoes.
Pour cold water over the grated potatoes and mix thoroughly.
Strain the mixture through a cloth into a large pan.
Settle and wash
When the starch has settled, pour off the water.
Add fresh water, mix thoroughly, and let it settle again.
Dry
Pour off the water and dry the starch on brown paper in the sun or a slightly heated oven.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Raw potatoes
- Provide the starch, which is the only part kept; the rest is strained away.
- Cold water
- Carries the starch out of the grated potato and lets it settle as the heavier layer.
The step that matters
Letting the starch settle fully before pouring off the water. Starch granules are heavier than the liquid and sink slowly. Pouring off too early can carry starch away with the water, lowering the yield, while the second settling washes out remaining soluble material for a cleaner, whiter powder.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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