What varieties of potatoes are better to choose for making starch, Ogorodnik asked the deputy director of the Institute of Potato Growing at the round table of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers Mykola Furdyga. And, as it turned out, finding them is not so easy. After all, now, according to Nikolai Furdyga, there are practically no special varieties of potatoes with a high starch content on sale.

Choosing varieties

“Varieties with a high starch content are Chervona Ruta (starch content 25-26%) and Sluch (25%),” said Nikolai Furdyga.

Potatoes, which are ideal for the production of starch, should contain 20-24% solids and 0.2-0.4% sugars. In such potatoes, there should be no darkening of the pulp, and the amount of waste should not exceed 15%. Tubers must be whole, dry, disease-free.

It should be understood that the starch content also depends on the technology of growing potatoes.

If you used more nitrogen when growing potatoes, then the starch content will be lower there.

Also, the quality of products is affected by the time the potatoes are in the ground. If you want to get starch, then you should start producing it at home no later than 2 weeks after digging potatoes - this is ideal.

By the way

For two years, an experiment was conducted on the basis of the Vimal starch plant, during which it was found out which varieties of potatoes had the most starch. He identified the top three: Kuras (23%), Eurostarch (20%) and Caruso (19%). These varieties are in the assortment of "Professional Nasinnya" in small packaging and are sold through online stores.

Now most varieties contain 14-20%. Average indicators - from 1 bucket (12-15 kg) of potatoes, 1-1.5 kg of homemade starch is obtained.

Stages

1. To make starch at home, I need potatoes and water.

2. Wash the tubers well and peel, cut off the damaged areas. Then rinse thoroughly again with clean water.

3. Grind potatoes on a fine grater or pass through a meat grinder. In a container with mashed potatoes (or on a grater), periodically add water so that the mixture is always liquid. Potatoes will release starch into the water.

Our advice

If you do not have a grater with small holes, then the potatoes can be chopped in a juicer, then add cold water to the resulting mass in a ratio of 1: 1.

4. Pour mashed potatoes with water, mix. At this point, the starch is released from the potato into the water. If your solution is a little red at the beginning, don't be alarmed, there is a lot of iron in the tubers, so the solution oxidizes.

5. Then strain the mass into an enamel bowl through double-folded gauze. Squeeze the pulp (hard part) well, it will no longer be useful to you.

6. Then the liquid should be defended until the water becomes clear and the starch settles to the bottom.

7. Then carefully drain the water. After that, add clean water again and again allow the starch to settle. So repeat 2-4 times until you get the purest starch.

8. Having drained the water for the last time, proceed to dry it. Squeeze raw starch from water and sprinkle on paper, foil or thin plywood.

9. Dry it should be in a warm place or in the oven at a temperature not exceeding 40 degrees. If the temperature is higher, the starch will turn into a paste.

10. Dryness of starch is checked by touch.

11. When the starch is dry, roll it out with a rolling pin or pass it through a coffee grinder, then it will turn out crumbly.

The resulting starch will have a slightly yellowish tint - this is normal.

The starch obtained in the factory is also yellow, white is given to it with the help of “blueing”.

Store starch in a sealed package in a dry, warm place. Its shelf life is unlimited.

Ivanna KUROVETs
photo depositphotos

The process of obtaining potato starch at home is not difficult. For these purposes, it is absolutely not necessary to use any special varieties of potatoes, even damaged and frozen potato tubers will do. In order to get 1-1.5 kilograms of homemade starch, you need to use one large bucket of potatoes of any kind and in any condition.

So, what are the sequential steps in the process of preparing potato starch?

1. Prepared root crops are thoroughly washed with cold water until the dirt is completely removed from the peel, and the use of a special hard brush will greatly facilitate this process. It is necessary to carefully examine the potato tubers and cut out rotten and frostbitten places.

2. In the absence of free time, potatoes can not be peeled, but chopped as a whole, but still the best option would be to completely remove the skin from the tubers and wash them again in clean water.

3. Prepared potatoes should be carefully chopped on a grater with small holes, while periodically pouring cold water over the grater. Grated potato pulp will accumulate in a container of water. In the absence of such a grinding device in the house, you can use an ordinary juicer by adding the same amount of cold water to the resulting puree.

4. With thorough mixing of the resulting mass, starch will enter the water, after which the potatoes should be squeezed out using ordinary gauze.

5. At the bottom of an enameled pan, gauze or a thin cloth folded in several layers is placed, onto which the potato mass is poured. After that, a certain time is maintained, during which the starch completely settles to the bottom of the pan. The water formed from above is drained, and fresh starch is poured with clean cold water and again the necessary time is maintained for it to fall to the bottom. This procedure is repeated several times until absolutely pure and snow-white starch is formed.

6. After the last draining of water, dry the starch to a white powder. To do this, it is necessary to carefully squeeze the starch from the water and carefully sprinkle it on pre-prepared paper or a baking sheet, which is placed in an oven or stove with an air temperature of 35-40 degrees. You can also dry the starch in an ordinary warm place, constantly checking its dryness by touch.

7. A well-dried product should be gently rubbed with the palms or rolled out with a rolling pin, which will give it a crumbly appearance. Ready starch is recommended to be stored in a tightly closed container, which will protect it from moisture.

Homemade starch has a yellowish tint, which is its distinguishing feature from the factory product. However, this does not change its qualitative composition and usefulness at all, since it is prepared without any chemical additives.

How to make potato starch at home

Having completed all these steps, I received starch, about a glass in volume. It was possible to peel the potatoes before chopping, then the starch would not have to be washed.
Preparation of milk jelly.

2. Pour a little water on the bottom so that the milk does not burn.

3. Add the required amount of milk, salt on the tip of a knife, sugar to taste into the pan.

4. Heat up
5. Simultaneously with heating the milk, take a glass, pour water into it and dissolve the starch in it.
6. Before boiling the milk, reduce the heat, pour the starch solution into the milk in a thin stream, stirring continuously.
7. When the jelly thickens, remove it from the stove and pour into plates.
8. Let it cool down a bit and invite those who wish to enjoy it.
All this was done by me and I really got a delicious jelly, which not only my dad, but also my sisters and myself ate with pleasure.
In the course of my research work, we posed the problem - to find out how you can independently obtain starch - a valuable nutritious product. It turned out that this does not require any complex devices, large expenditures of energy and money. It is enough to follow a series of simple steps and you get a useful substance in a simple and very cheap way.
In addition, this work shows a real way to useful use of waste material - small potatoes, which are often simply left at the place of digging potatoes. Plus, frozen potatoes are also suitable for making starch, which seems to be completely worthless. Or maybe someone will come in handy with a recipe for a delicious and healthy dish - milk jelly.

Potato starch is one of the popular products. It has properties that allow it to be used in cooking, cosmetology, and medicine. To be sure of the quality of the product, we will learn how to cook potato starch at home.

How to make potato starch

If you want to make a starchy powder with your own hands, it is important to choose the right fruits, follow the recipe and carry out all the steps that are usually performed in production.

How to choose potatoes

At home, potato starch is made from fruits that contain a large amount of this substance - from 20-25% and above. This indicator is influenced by the variety of the root crop. The most starchy varieties are Lorch, Voltman and others. A large amount of the final product is obtained from them.

To choose the right potato with a high starch content, the root crop is cut in half and simple experiments are carried out:

• Rub the palm of the hand with a cut of the tuber. If there is a lot of starch, a powdering effect is felt on the skin;
• Cut potatoes are left for 20-30 minutes in the air. When moisture evaporates, a starchy film forms on the cut surface. The faster it appears, the more useful substance in the tuber.

Potato connoisseurs note: a high content of starch in brown-skinned potato tubers. Such a root crop quickly crumbles during cooking. It makes an excellent puree.

You cannot get starch from a spoiled, frozen potato. Useful substances in it pass into sugars, which dissolve in water. Small root crops are not suitable for this. Such potatoes have a lot of fiber, and the starch content is 8-10%.

Potato starch contains several components important for digestion. Among them are carbohydrates, proteins, saccharides, etc. The loose white tasteless powder contains useful minerals: calcium, potassium, phosphorus.

How to make starch at home

The recipe for how to cook potato starch at home is simple, but the process is time consuming and lengthy.

For work you will need dishes and kitchen tools:

• 2 deep bowls;
• a tray lined with parchment or a clean cloth;
• sharp knife;
• grater with small cells;
• sieve.

Before you make starch with your own hands, you should find out the percentage of yield of the finished product. Usually, no more than 80-85 g of white powder is obtained from 2 kg of root crops. For cooking at home, 100 g of starch are processed 2.5-2.8 kg of potatoes.

Preparation time of raw materials - 30-40 minutes, drying - up to 3 days. To make the process faster, create the optimum temperature and humidity in the room.

Preparation of raw materials

1. The fruits of potatoes are thoroughly washed, allowed to drain water.
2. Cut off the peel, remove any damage.
3. Clean tubers are rubbed on a grater or chopped in a meat grinder.
4. The resulting mixture is filtered through a sieve.
5. The liquid is left in the bowl for 20-30 minutes so that sediment settles to the bottom.
6. Next, carefully drain the liquid and fill the container with the settled mass with cold water. Waiting for a new precipitate to form. The steps are repeated as many times as necessary to obtain a clean, white substance at the bottom of the vessel.

How to make starch at home from cooked raw materials ? To do this, use the drying method. The mass is distributed in an even layer on a tray covered with parchment or a clean cloth. The thinner it is, the faster the moisture will evaporate and a white powder will form.

Drying of starch is carried out at room temperature in a room with low humidity. These conditions will significantly accelerate the process of evaporation of moisture from potato raw materials. After 8-9 hours, knead the product if lumps have formed. It is mixed and leveled. Similar manipulations are carried out several times until the moisture is completely evaporated. This takes 3 days.

A simple recipe for making potato starch at home allows you to get a high quality natural product. It is a snow-white friable powder without taste and smell. In finished form, it is stored in a tightly closed container.

Useful properties of potato starch

High starch potatoes – a source of obtaining a product that is widely used in cooking, medicine, cosmetology.

Nutritionists advise using white food powder for nutrition in the form of jelly , brewed on the basis of fruit, berry juices. This dish improves the digestion process. It is quickly absorbed. Thanks to its component composition, jelly on potato starch helps to remove excess moisture from the body, toxins and harmful substances.

Cosmetologists recommend making face masks from starch. They eliminate oily sheen, save from acne, acne. Such means for a fatty epithelium are shown. As a result of the use of starchy components, the skin becomes smooth, looks beautiful and healthy.

With the help of starch, many diseases are treated, especially of a dermatological nature. It perfectly heals wounds, cuts, relieves pain and promotes rapid healing of skin lesions during burns. It is used to treat skin conditions such as eczema. The white powder acts as a disinfectant, protecting against external influences.

Knowing how to make potato starch at home, how to use it, allows you to expand its range of applications. A product prepared by one's own hands will not raise doubts about its naturalness and a high degree of benefit.

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)
• a 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 thoroughly under running water. Both small potatoes and damaged ones are 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.

The potato is native to South America. Today, this vegetable is mainly cultivated in China, India, USA, Ukraine, Russia. In some countries, still, as in the old days, it is grown as an ornamental plant. On our table, it is considered the second bread.

It is hardly possible to imagine our diet without this tuber, although it is not only a nutritious product. This is a storehouse of vitamins useful for our body (PP, A, C, E, H, group B). It contains 23 micro and macro elements (potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, vanadium, copper, rubidium, boron, aluminum, etc.). In folk medicine, its peel, starch, decoctions are used for medicinal purposes. Today on www.site we will talk about potato starch, a recipe, useful properties, benefits and harms, we will discuss their treatment.

Useful properties of starch

When we peel tubers, we don’t even realize that together with the peel we remove many useful components, which are much less in the potato itself. It is in it that enzymes are contained, thanks to which potato starch is better absorbed by our body.

Starch is the main ingredient in potatoes and is obtained from the tuber itself. By composition and structure, it belongs to carbohydrates, representing a powder of white, sometimes light yellow color. In pharmacology, potato starch is used as the basis for various tablets, ointments, and powders. In connection with the softening and enveloping properties, starch is recommended for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as it protects the intestinal mucosa when taking medication. It can also be used as an anti-inflammatory agent for ailments in the digestive system. It is used to treat burns, baths with the addition of white powder have a beneficial effect on the skin, reducing its itching; with neurosis, skin diseases, childhood diathesis, it is also useful. Starch is able to lower cholesterol levels in the liver and blood, speed up metabolism, lower blood pressure, promote good digestion. and gastritis it is prescribed for dietary nutrition in the form of jelly. Starch contains calcium, phosphorus, vitamin PP, dietary fiber, proteins, carbohydrates; its energy value is 313 kcal.

starch recipe

To prepare potato starch, take a tuber of late-ripening varieties (there is more starch in them), tubers of any shape and quality are suitable. The color of the finished product will depend on how thoroughly the tubers are washed. Then we process it, removing all damage; finely chop and pass through a juicer. You can grind on a fine grater, but it is much more difficult.

Pour the resulting mixture with cold water, mix well. We put gauze in 2-3 layers on a fine sieve, and through it we filter our potato liquid into a bowl for settling. The slurry remaining on the gauze, before throwing it away, is washed with a small amount of water, pouring the liquid into the same bowl as the first drain. We leave for a few hours. During this time, the starch will settle to the bottom, and excess particles will float to the surface. They must be carefully removed and, without touching the white precipitate, drain the dirty water, replacing it with clean water. Stir and leave again, for 3-4 hours, so that the sediment settles. We repeat the procedure with the replacement of water all day until the extra specks cease to emerge. The whiteness of starch depends on the frequency of washing.

To dry the powder, we use trays, oven sheets, spread starch on them with a thin layer, leave it in a warm, quiet place where there is no draft or any breath of wind, otherwise the light powder will scatter. Every time its top layer dries out, it is necessary to stir the powder so that the starch is completely dry. Otherwise, it will curl up into lumps and be poorly stored. We transfer the finished powder into a glass dish and tightly screw the lid.

Harm starch

Starches are complex carbohydrates and are divided into two groups. The first is natural (native), these are fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts, legumes. The second - refined, obtained in industrial conditions. These include white flour of the highest grade, starch and products made on their basis. The danger is not that we eat starchy foods - these are cereals, beans, root crops. She hides in that white powder, which is odorless and tasteless, that is, in refined starch. This starch, in the process of digestion, increases inulin, which can lead to pathology of the eyeball, atherosclerosis, and hormonal imbalance.

To digest potato starch, the body uses enzymes from the blood, which are so necessary for us during stress, poor health, and thereby reducing their supply. In the process of heat treatment, a toxic substance appears in products with a high starch content, which contributes to the development of oncological diseases.

The question is not idle, because it is widely used in cooking. But it can be replaced with no less useful and affordable thickeners. These include flour from pumpkin seeds, rye, buckwheat; For dessert, you can use shredded coconut. For jelly, use a whole grain linseed paste (boil a third of a glass of grain in a liter of water for 2 hours over low heat).

Scientists from Poland investigated potato starch and confirmed its anti-ulcer effect. This is probably why potato starch has long been used in folk medicine as an anti-inflammatory and enveloping agent for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Scientists have also found that starch enhances the synthesis of the vitamin riboflavin, which is necessary for the normalization of metabolism and proper digestion. At the same time, excessively zealous consumption of starch leads to the fact that the body does not have time to process it, it begins to rot and ferment in the gastrointestinal tract, and decompose abnormally. So uncontrolled use of potato starch is not worth it, it is important that the benefits of it do not turn to harm. Remember that the main principle is a reasonable combination and application.

* Take starch baths to treat allergies. To prepare them, brew 4 tbsp with boiling water. powder with a slide. Pour them into a 37 C bath and take it for up to 7 minutes. Then wrap yourself in a sheet and lie down to dry. Take the first 4 baths every other day, then 3 baths after 2 days, then 2 baths in 14 days.
* For mastitis, mix 1/2 cup of sunflower oil and starch. Fold the mixture into a gauze bag and tie for 1 hour to the chest.
* In case of a burn, sprinkle the affected area with starch mixed in half with baking soda.
* For erysipelas, apply a starch-on-cotton compress to the affected areas.
* For hypertension on an empty stomach for 2 weeks every day, drink dissolved 15 grams of starch in 0.5 cups of water. Control the pressure!