Potato starch, which I'm sure you've all used before, is made from potatoes, including their skins, which are boiled, dried and finely ground. It can be used as a thickener, although not as good as potato starch for thickening, but in some baked goods, it can keep the moisture in the baked goods. Below will introduce you to the process of making potato starch and its new uses, together!

Characteristics of potato starch:

Starch is divided into corn starch, legume starch, potato starch, cereal starch and so on according to different extraction objects. Potato starch is one kind of potato starch, which is especially favored because of its special quality. Potato starch is a high-quality starch with a series of unique properties, which has unique qualities and functions that cannot be replaced by any other starch.

1, because the potato starch granules are larger than other starch granules, with high viscosity, can be modulated to a high consistency of the paste, so that its quality and grade in industrial applications is much higher than other starches.

2, the molecular weight of the branched chain starch of potato starch is higher than most other starches, which can produce excellent flexible film. Because of its viscosity and film-forming ability in the production process to minimize the degree of reduction, so it is the best choice of raw materials for the preparation of cationic starch.

3, potato starch contains natural phosphate groups. Although potato starch also contains straight chain starch, but because of its branched part of the large molecular weight and the role of phosphate group substitution, potato starch paste rarely gel or degradation phenomenon. Therefore, it can well extend the shelf life of the products to which it is added, and is widely used as a stabilizer in the food, daily chemical and other industries.

4, potato starch taste mild, non-irritating, it does not have corn, wheat starch as the typical taste of grain. So it is the best choice for food additives. At present, any international famous brand food will never choose other starch as additives.

The production process of potato starch

First, the traditional production process:

The new potatoes (potatoes) washed and dug out the buds and eyes, peeled off the skin and weighed, take 200 grams of potatoes, cut into shreds, boiled in 1000 ml of water for 15 minutes to 30 minutes, a little cooled down, and then filtered through four layers of gauze, take the filtrate and replenish the water to 1000 ml! Water enough 1000 ml! This method of utilizing potato starch should be made ready for use as needed in seed production.

Peeled and de-sprouted potatoes into a fine pulp, held in a container with water and filtered through four layers of gauze 2 to 3 times, the filtrate will naturally precipitate, after the end of the precipitation to remove the supernatant night, and then, the starch will be thinly spread on a glass plate to dry. Finally, the fully dried starch will be sealed in a container, so that it can be used at any time in the future when the need for seed production. For seed preparation, 20 g of starch is weighed and 1000 ml of water is added. The nutrient content of potato starch produced in this way is virtually undamaged.

Second, small-scale production production process:

1, washing and grinding: potato washing process is carried out in the washing machine. Remove the mud, stones, stems and leaves and adhering to the potato surface of the mud and sand and other impurities, the amount of water is about 5 times the raw material, after washing, sent to the grinder processing. The grinder used has two types of tooth plate type and hammer type.

2, sieving: after grinding the potato paste to be sieved. The traditional method is to use flat shaking sieve, modern potato starch factory are used centrifugal sieve. In the sieving process to add water to wash, sieve under the starch milk, sieve slag for the second sieving, recovery of part of the starch, after cleaning the starch slag can be used as feed.

3, flow tank separation and cleaning: starch milk from the sieving section first in the flow tank to separate protein and other impurities, and then in the cleaning tank for cleaning. The yellow slurry water with starch from the flow tank is sent to the flow tank to recover starch, and then the secondary starch is obtained through the cleaning tank.

4, dehydration and drying: starch cleaning, moisture content is very high, must be centrifuged dehydration, moisture content of 45 ｛bf｝ wet starch, and drying through the air dryer to the equilibrium moisture of 20 ｛bf｝ dry starch.

Third, large-scale production process:

Large-scale potato starch production process is basically similar to the small-scale production process, and its process flow: potato - hydraulic conveying - cleaning and conveying - secondary washing Cleaning and de-stoning elevation - crushing, separation - desanding - concentration and refinement - vacuum dehydration - air drying - finished product packaging.

1, cleaning process and equipment: mainly to remove the material appearance of the cortex with the sediment, and wash to remove the material tuber skin, to remove the stone cleaning machine is to remove the hard impurities in the material. Cleaning of raw materials for starch production is the basis for ensuring the quality of starch, and the cleaner the cleaning, the better the quality of starch. Conveying is to pass the material to the next process, often conveying also has the function of cleaning. Commonly used conveying, cleaning, de-stoning equipment are: hydraulic flow tank, screw cleaner, inclined squirrel cage cleaner, slurry leaf cleaner, de-stoning cleaning machine, (flat) squirrel cage cleaner, rotary cleaner, scraper conveyor and so on. According to the soil and material characteristics can choose some of these combinations, to achieve a high degree of cleaning, transportation and convenient requirements.

2, raw material crushing and equipment: the purpose of crushing is to destroy the organizational structure of the material, so that tiny starch particles can be successfully disintegrated from the tuber to separate out.

Crushing requirements are:

(1) as far as possible to make the material cell rupture, release more free starch particles;

(2) easy to separate. Do not want the dregs too fine, dregs too fine is not conducive to the separation of starch and other ingredients, and increase the difficulty of separating the fine dregs.

3, screening process and equipment: starch extraction, also known as slurry residue separation or separation, is a key link in starch processing, directly affecting the starch extraction rate and starch quality. Crushed materials are fine fibers, the volume is greater than the starch particles, the expansion coefficient is greater than the starch particles, the specific gravity is lighter than the starch particles, will be crushed materials, water as a medium, so that the starch and fibers separated from each other.

4, washing process and equipment: starch washing and concentration is dependent on the starch cyclone to complete, the cyclone is divided into the concentration cyclone and washing and refining cyclone. The starch slurry after passing through the sieve firstly passes through the thickening cyclone, and the underflow enters into the washing and refining cyclone, and finally reaches the product quality requirement. The equipment is equipped with a full set of automatic control system, the use of high-quality cyclone tube and the optimization of the discharge pipe scheme, can make the last cyclone excluded from the starch milk concentration of 23Be', is the ideal choice for starch washing equipment.

5, starch dewatering: potato starch often use vacuum suction dewatering machine. It can realize automatic feeding, automatic dehydration, automatic cleaning.

6, starch drying: air dryer is the use of high-speed flow of hot air so that the wet starch suspended in it, drying in the air flow process. It is characterized by high heat transfer coefficient, large heat transfer area and short drying time.

7, starch cooling and sieve packaging: starch after drying, the temperature is high, in order to ensure the viscosity of starch, the starch needs to be cooled down quickly after drying. The cooled starch enters into the finished product sieve, and enters into the last packaging process under the premise of ensuring the fineness and yield of the product.

The starch residue produced by small factories is directly used as feed without drying, while the starch residue of large factories is mostly dried. In order to save thermal energy consumption, it can be first dehydrated by the press, and then dried by air dryer.

New uses of potato starch:

I. Preferred meat products:

The addition of starch to minced meat products has an obvious effect on improving the water retention of the product and its organizational status. This process is caused by the pasteurization of starch during the heating process. [Fresh meat contains 72 ｛bf｝-80 ｛bf｝ of water, the rest of the solid matter is mostly protein. When the meat is heated, the proteins are denatured and their ability to bind water is boosted, while the starch is able to absorb this water, paste and form a stable structure. Compared with other starches, potato modified starch pasting temperature is low, the products of protein denaturation and starch pasting two roles almost simultaneously, will not form a small internal "water sugar".

Potato modified starch has a high degree of expansion, strong water-absorbing capacity, in the heating process, meat protein heat denaturation, the formation of a mesh structure, due to a part of the mesh still exists in the combination of water is not close enough to be absorbed by the starch particles fixed, so that the starch particles become soft and elastic, and play a dual role of adhesion and water retention. Add potato modified starch meat products, uniform and delicate organization, compact structure, elasticity, smooth surface, tender and palatable, long-term preservation and low-temperature refrigeration water retention is very strong.

Second, excellent thickener for sauce:

Modified starch as a good thickener, is widely used in sauce food, the use of modified starch can reduce production costs; at the same time, due to the stable quality of the sauce, can be stored for a long time without delamination, so that the product has a glossy appearance and delicate taste.

Sauce products mostly contain high salt, so the pH value changes, generally need to be sterilized by high temperature, and accompanied by moderate to intense mixing or homogenization; in view of the various sauces in the state of the organization, the degree of acidity, emulsification effect of the requirements are different, the choice of modified starch and the use of it is particularly important.

Potato modified starch paste low temperature, can reduce the high temperature caused by the loss of nutrients and flavor; mild odor, will not affect the original flavor of the product; high transparency, can give the sauce a good appearance of the form; screened small particles of the product can provide a very smooth surface. At the same time, potato modified starch has good anti-aging, shear resistance, high temperature resistance and low pH value, etc. It can effectively prevent sedimentation and dehydration of the sauce products, and to a certain extent, it can increase the emulsification effect. In sauces, potato modified starch is not only used as a thickener, but also provides the product with a specific organization and texture. Special potato modified starch can also be used to improve the rheology of soy sauce to enhance the adhesion and wall feeling of the sauce.