Arrow Root
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the roots
Wash the roots thoroughly.
Bruise the roots into a pulp in a wooden mortar.
Extract the starch
Agitate the pulp with a large quantity of cold water until it turns white.
Strain the mixture through a sieve to separate the starchy water from the fibrous matter.
Dry the starchy powder in the sun.
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
- Arrow root
- Supplies the starch that is extracted and dried into a fine thickening powder.
- Cold water
- Washes the starch out of the pulp so it separates from the fibrous matter.
The step that matters
Strain the mixture through a sieve. Straining separates the starch suspended in the water from the fibrous matter. Leftover fibre left in the powder makes it gritty and weakens its thickening power.
“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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