Everybody wants to live all healthy and hearty. A good health is no less than a blessing, so why risk it? You can have a good health by making small changes in your diet. Diet takes about 70% to make you healthy and exercise about 30%. Exercise is, by all means, is essential for attaining a healthy lifestyle but a good diet is primary to all. You can have a healthy lifestyle by making small changes in your diet only. The most important modification in your diet plan is considered to be the modification of starches.
When food scientists calculated how to modify starch to thicken certain desserts, it opened a door for whole new discoveries from which people are benefited more and more by every passing day. These modifications are for the busy families who are looking for expediency and appealing hors d’oeuvres, eating at home or on the go.
To clear out your confusion, we will first describe to you what a modified starch actually is. Let’s learn some chemistry, shall we? Modified starch is prepared by substantially, chemically or enzymatically treating intrinsic starch to change its properties. Modified starches find their applications in the following:
- In the food products as a coagulating agent, preservative or emulsifier.
- In narcotics as a disintegrated substance.
- As a binder in coated paper.
Modified starches are mainly produced to boost up their performance in certain applications. They may be modified to enhance their firmness against excessive freezing, cooling, time, shear, acid or heat. This is done principally to change their consistency which in turns decreases or increases their gooeyness. They are also modified to lengthen or shorten their gelatinization time. The most common types of modified food starch are made from ingredients like corn, wheat, potato, and tapioca.
TAPIOCA STARCH:
The most important starch here is the Tapioca starch. This starch is made up from the roots of Cassava plant. It has various uses in the cooking industry. It can be used as flour for baking but it is mainly used as a thickener. This modified starch is widely used in Asian cuisine, especially in Thai recipes. Some of the main ones are mentioned below.
GLUTEN FREE:
This is the most important and obvious use of modified tapioca starch. This option enables the people who are gluten intolerant to bake or add thickeners to their recipes.
COOKING USES:
From chips to wafers and muffins, this modified food starch finds its applications in a number of recipes. Because it also acts as a thickener, it may also be used to thicken soups, puddings, and gravies.
BLAND TASTE:
Tapioca starch has a bland or neutral taste. This is an advantage because it doesn’t change the flavor of the recipe you’re making whether it’s a sour or sweet dish.
LOW PROTEIN:
For those who want to cut out their protein intake makes sure to get this modified food starch in their homes because it contains no proteins. Other modified starches such as modified wheat starch contain about 16 grams of protein per 120 grams serving which nearly equals to one cup. According to a survey, low-protein starches are best for cooking soft rather than crusty bread, cakes, and biscuits.
CONCLUSION:
One can find difficulty in finding a valuable and trustable modified starch but you can always rely upon Ingredion. They are ahead of making your boring Mondays into exciting one for you and your families with frozen lasagna for a crowd or crunchy, fresh tasting Asian snacks for one. Ingredion provides you nature-based starches and enhances to deliver incomparable functionality across all of your applications.