It can be sweet potato flour, but not just

The corn flour used in Hong Kong is corn flour, while the corn starch commonly used in Taiwan is Taibai flour. In Chinese cooking, cornstarch not only thickens the food to give it a smooth texture, it is also commonly used as a marinade to soften the meat. Cornstarch (ie Taibai powder), also known as water chestnut powder, is made from broad beans or water chestnuts. Cornstarch has a wide range of uses. It can be used as a seasoning for stir-fry dishes, and can also be used to spread pancakes. It is mainly used for sizing and thickening when processing meat raw materials. In Chinese food, it refers to starch. It is used for thickening, sizing, etc. when cooking. There are many kinds, such as sweet potato starch, water bean flour used in Sichuan cuisine, and corn starch. Cornstarch is starch, and there are many kinds.

1. Corn starch

Corn Starch (Corn Starch) is also called corn flour, corn starch, corn flour, cornstarch, and some places call it soybean flour (this is indeed rare). Starch derived from corn kernels - The most widely available starch, but does not perform as well as potato starch. Cornstarch in Hong Kong is mainly corn starch.

2. Taibai starch

Immediately raw potato starch, potato starch - the thickening starch with the most stable quality and most used in households, is called Potato Starch in Taiwan. It is characterized by sufficient viscosity, fine texture, white color and better gloss than mung bean starch, but poor water absorption. When water is added and heated, it will condense into a transparent viscous state. In Chinese cooking (especially Taiwanese cuisine), Taibai powder is often mixed with cold water and then added to the cooked dishes to thicken it, making the soup look thicker and making the food thicker. The exterior looks shiny. Hong Kong cuisine generally uses cornstarch (cornmeal) for gravy. However, the soup thickened with corn starch will become thinner after cooling, while the soup thickened with corn starch will not change after cooling.

Taiwan powder cannot be directly mixed with water or put into hot food. It will immediately condense into lumps and cannot be boiled. After the food boiled with corn starch is allowed to cool, the gravy will become thinner, which is called "returning water". Therefore, corn starch is generally used in Western pastries to make the material thicker without using too much cornstarch. White powder.

PS: Note that it is different from potato flour (also called "potato flour"). It can be boiled with water and reduced to mashed potatoes. In addition, it is often used in Western-style bread or cakes to increase the moistness of the product.

3. Sweet Potato Starch

Sweet Potato Starch - also called sweet potato starch and potato starch, is characterized by strong water absorption capacity, but poor viscosity, dull color, and Dark red with black. It is a powder made from sweet potato starch. Generally, sweet potato powder is in the form of granules, and comes in two types: coarse-grained and fine-grained. Coarse-grained sweet potato powder is usually better when purchased at home. Sweet potato powder is the same as Taibai powder. It will become viscous when heated when melted in water. The viscosity of sweet potato powder is higher than that of Taibai powder. Therefore, sweet potato powder is less used when thickening Chinese dishes because the viscosity is difficult to control.

Sweet potato powder is often used in making Chinese snacks.

4. Arrowroot

Arrowroot is made from the underground stems of a perennial plant, Arrowroot, because the entire stem of Arrowroot is almost pure starch. , grate, clean, dry and grind these stems into powder, which is arrowroot (also called Arrowroot, the same name as the plant). Arrowroot powder can be used to thicken the soup, similar to the functions of cornstarch powder and Taibai powder. However, cornstarch and Taibai powder need to be at a higher temperature to make the soup thicker, while arrowroot powder needs to be at a lower temperature. The effect of temperature, therefore, like American pudding containing eggs, because eggs tend to clump at higher temperatures, it is very suitable to use arrowroot as a thickening agent. Some recipes also call it Arrowroot Flour.

5. Tapioca Flour

Tapioca Flour - also known as water chestnut flour and Thai cornstarch (because Thailand is the third largest cassava producer in the world, second only to Nigeria and Brazil, and in Thailand it is commonly used as starch). Taiwan's imports from Southeast Asia are gradually increasing, so Taiwanese people originally called potato starch Taibaifen, but now they also generally call tapioca starch Taibaifen. After it is cooked with water and heated, it will become transparent and taste QQ with elasticity.

6. Sago palm starch

Sago palm starch is not common here, but if I talk about sago, I believe everyone will be familiar with it. Sago is sago rice, a specialty of Indonesia. It is made of cassava flour, wheat starch, and corn flour and is processed into round bead-shaped powder grains. Sago has the function of restoring natural moisture to the skin.

On many islands in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, a tree called the sago palm grows. The trunk of the sago coconut is thick and straight and contains a lot of starch. Generally, sago palm trees have a lifespan of 20 years and die after flowering. Before it is about to bloom, people cut down the trunk, remove the branches and leaves, saw it horizontally into sections, each section is about 1 meter, and then split it into two lengthwise. Use a knife to scrape out the starch in the stem, and immerse it in a bucket. The starch will slowly It sinks to the bottom of the barrel (this is the sago coconut starch I am talking about). If the water above is poured out, it can be processed into rice-like particles after drying. Local residents call it sago rice. This is the sago in the coconut milk sago we usually eat.

7. Crystal powder

The main ingredients of crystal powder (Clear Roll Cake Flour) are corn flour, water chestnut flour and other starches.

8. Starchy Flour

Starchy Flour - Strictly speaking, it is the general name for various starches. It is mainly used for thickening and snacks. It is called dough flour in the north and is called dough flour in Shanghai. The name cornstarch does not refer specifically to any type of starch. Cornstarch is a term that often appears in mainland recipes and Hong Kong-style recipes, and is mostly used to thicken gravy. The corn flour used in mainland China and Hong Kong is corn flour, while the corn starch commonly used in Taiwan is Taibai flour. In Chinese cooking, cornstarch not only thickens the food to give it a smooth texture, it is also commonly used as a marinade to soften the meat.

9. Mung bean starch

The best thickening starch, but it is rarely used and the output is not large. It is characterized by high viscosity, low water absorption, white and shiny color.