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VEGAN FEAST SUBSCRIBERS' COOKING AND RECIPE FORUM>
Cooking with kudzu or arrowroot
Debbie
1130 posts
May 01, 2006
1:15 PM
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I am perusing a cookbook that uses kudzu and arrowroot. Does anybody has an experience cooking with it? Can I use cornstarch instead? I am not familiar with these ingredients and don't know the characterictis in baking or cooking.
If the recipe says 1/2 cup arrowroot can I replace it with 1/2 cup of cornstarch?
Thanks
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Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
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Bryanna
Owner/Moderator
1584 posts
May 01, 2006
2:01 PM
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No-- don't believe anyone who says so! You have to use more arrowroot than cornstarch. I experimented and researched and came up with this conversion chart:
CONVERSION CHART; (3 tsp.=1 T.; 12 tsp.=4 T.=1/4 c.)
1 tsp. cornstarch= 1+3/4 tsp. arrowroot
2 tsp. cornstarch= 3+1/2 tsp. arrowroot
3 tsp. (1 T.) cornstarch= 5+1/4 tsp.(or 1 T. plus 2+1/4 tsp.) arrowroot
4 tsp. cornstarch= 2 T. plus 1 tsp. arrowroot
5 tsp. cornstarch= 2 T. plus 3/4 tsp. arrowroot
6 tsp. (2 T.) cornstarch= 3 T. plus 1+1/4 tsp. arrowroot
7 tsp. cornstarch= 4 T. (1/4 c.) arrowroot
8 tsp. cornstarch= 4 T. (1/4 c.) plus 2 tsp. arrowroot
9 tsp. (3 T.)cornstarch= 5 T. plus 1/2 tsp. arrowroot
10 tsp. cornstarch= 5 T. plus 2+1/4 tsp. arrowroot
1/4 c. cornstarch (4 T.)= 6 T. plus 2+1/2 tsp. arrowroot
1/3 c. (about 5+1/2 T.) cornstarch=
1/2 c. plus 1+3/4 tsp. arrowroot
You can multiply further for any other amount.
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Here's an interesting article about starches from a food scientist:
Tips for Vegetable Cookery: Starch
from Shirley Corriher
The Right Starch for the Job
Natural starches contain a mix of two basic starches--a long, straight-chain starch, amylosa, and a short, brached-chain starch, amylopectin. A starch's characteristics change according to its differing proportions of amylose and amylopectin.
**Grain starches like wheat, corn or oats contain 22 to 27% amylose, a relatively high amount. They:
Are clear when hot but cloudy when cold. (Sauces with flour are opaque hot or cold because flour contains things other than starch.)
Set up thick enough to slice with a knife.
Become spongy and leak watery fluid when frozen and thawed.
Thicken just below the boiling point of water and can be held hot without damage.
Reheat without thinning.
Thin if stirred once cool and firmly set.
**Root starches like tapioca and arrowroot and waxy starches contain up to 99% amylopectin. They:
Are crystal clear hot or cold.
Are thickest when hot at their gel temperature. Thin a little when cooled. Set up in a thick, clear, glossy coating--not firm enought to cut.
Freeze and thaw nicely without change.
Thicken at lower temperatures than grain starches.
Thin when vigorously stirred, hot or cool.
In many cases, it is easy to pick the right starch. For a coconut cream pie, you need a starch that thickens enough to slice--go with flour or cornstarch. For a stir-fry, you need a clear coating--go with cornstarch because it is clear when hot. But, a cherry pie presents problems because you need clear hot or cold. This would mean a root starch like tapioca or arrowroot. While this will give you a clear, thick coating, it will thin a little when reheated. You can mix starches--use mostly tapioca for clarity and just a little cornstarch to make it thicken and reheat well.
Asian grocery stores are a great place to buy starches. They have arrowroot, potato starch, rice starch, tapioca starch (a powder), wheat starch, etc. at a fraction of their cost in regular stores.
Copyright 1994, Shirley O. Corriher
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"To look like a goddess, eat like a peasant." Karen Andres
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Debbie
1131 posts
May 01, 2006
3:13 PM
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Thanks so much Bryanna! I needed that conversion chart. Do you know if there is a different in taste or texture between cornstarch and arrowroot?
What about kudzu? Is it gummy? I ate a Chocolate vegan tofu pie once and it tastes gummy that I don't like. I wonder if that is the kudzu texture.
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Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
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Bryanna
Owner/Moderator
1585 posts
May 01, 2006
3:45 PM
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There is no taste difference-- all of these starches are pretty tasteless. But I use cornstarch most of the time because I find it the most reliable. When I try arrowroot I often find it slimey. I wonder if there was xanthan or guar gum in that pie? Kuzu is expensive, so I don't use it. I'm confused about arrowroot and kuzu-- I was under the impression that they were two different things, but they are now marketed as the same thing.
You can buy organic cornstarch now, BTW.
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"To look like a goddess, eat like a peasant." Karen Andres
Last Edited Bryanna on 1-May-2006 8:05 PM
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Debbie
1132 posts
May 01, 2006
7:44 PM
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Hi Bryanna,
Thanks! Yes, I taste something slimey when I ate that vegan chocolate pie. I don't know if it is xathan gum or arrowroot. That's why I haven't bought arrowroot or kudzu yet since I am not familiar with it. I guess I just should invest several $ and try it myself. I have always been using cornstarch also.
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Debbie
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne
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Starla
18 posts
May 02, 2006
5:02 AM
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This brings up an interesting question. I've always bought the Ener-G Egg replacer and the ingredient listed on the box is simply potato starch. Is it the same thing if I went and bought potato starch from the Asian market? It seems to me it would be less expensive that way.
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Bryanna
Owner/Moderator
1586 posts
May 02, 2006
7:30 AM
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There's more than potato starch in EnerG. Here are the ingredients:
"Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour, Leavening (Calcium Lactate, Calcium Carbonate, Citric Acid) Carbohydrate Gum. Calcium Lactate is not dairy derived. It does not contain lactose."
EnerG will whip up almost like beaten egg white after about 7 minutes beating, which no other egg replacer will do in my experience, and plain starch certainly won't. This must be due to the leavening and carbohydrate gum. I have tried others, including my own mixture, and nothing works that way except EnerG.
BTW, the beaten EnerG can be folded into cakes, but it does not have the protein of egg white, so you can't make meringue with it, or use it to leaven cakes-- it will just lighten them up somewhat.
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"To look like a goddess, eat like a peasant." Karen Andres
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Starla
19 posts
May 02, 2006
10:06 AM
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Thanks, Bryanna. I've always had good luck with Ener-G that's for sure.
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