The difference between flour and starch is: different raw materials, different ways of use, different ways of storage.

1, the raw materials are different: raw flour is generally made from potatoes after a complex production process. Starch is made from corn, sweet potatoes or tapioca, such as fruits and vegetables with high starch content.

2, the use of different ways: the consumption of raw flour is generally after cooking, like thickening in the dishes, generally used at the end of the time. Starch is used before cooking or baking, with a good modulation together, like doing baking is the starch and other ingredients to be used mixed together and then operated.

3, storage is different: powder storage is indoor normal storage can be. Starch needs to be stored in a sealed container because it is highly absorbent and can get damp when exposed to air for a long time.

1, corn starch Corn Starch .

Corn Starch, also known as cornstarch, corn starch, corn flour, cornstarch, raw flour, and some places call it bean flour (this is indeed rare), is extracted from corn kernels in the starch - the most abundant supply of starch, but not as good as potato starch performance. What is called raw flour in Hong Kong is mainly corn starch.

2, too white flour Potato Starch .

That is, the raw potato starch, potato starch - the most stable quality of the family with the most thickening starch, Taiwan is called too white powder. Characterized by sufficient viscosity, fine texture, white color, gloss better than mung bean starch, but poor water absorption.

Added with water and heat will coagulate into a transparent thick, in Chinese cooking (especially Taiwanese cuisine) will often be too white powder with cold water and add to the cooked dishes to do hooks, so that the soup looks thick, while making the appearance of the food looks glossy.

In Hong Kong cuisine, cornstarch is usually used to thicken the soup. However, soup thickened with cornstarch will become thinner after cooling, while soup thickened with cornstarch will remain unchanged after cooling.

Powdered cornstarch should not be mixed directly with hot water or added to hot food, as it will immediately clump together and cannot be cooked. After the food is cooled, the sauce will become thinner, which is called "returning water". Therefore, cornstarch is usually utilized in pastry production to make the material reach the viscous property without using cornstarch.

3, Sweet Potato Starch.

Also known as groundnut starch, taro starch, characterized by strong water-absorbing capacity, but poor viscosity, no luster, color dark red with black. It is made of sweet potato starch and other powder, generally groundnut flour is granular, there are two kinds of coarse and fine grains, usually purchased at home to coarse groundnut flour is better.

Groundnut flour is the same as white flour, melted in water and heated to form a thick consistency, while the viscosity of groundnut flour is higher than that of white flour, therefore, it is less commonly used in thickening Chinese dishes because the viscosity is more viscous to control. Groundnut flour is more commonly used in Chinese dim sum.

4, Pueraria lobata.

Pueraria lobata is a perennial plant "Pueraria lobata (Arrowroot)" made of underground stems, because "Pueraria lobata" is almost pure starch, these stems shaved, cleaned, dried, ground powder, is Pueraria lobata (also known as Arrowroot, with the plant). Arrowroot, the same name as the plant).

Kudzu powder can be used to thicken soups in a similar way to cornstarch powder and cornstarch, but while cornstarch and cornstarch need to be at higher temperatures to thicken soups, kudzu powder works at lower temperatures.

So, for example, an American-style pudding containing eggs, which tend to clump together at higher temperatures, is a good candidate for kudzu powder as a thickening agent. Some recipes also call it Arrowroot Flour.

5. Tapioca Flour .

Tapioca Flour - also known as Ling Flour, Thai Raw Flour (because Thailand is the third largest producer of cassava in the world, after Nigeria and Brazil, it is generally used as starch in Thailand).

Taiwan's imports from Southeast Asia are gradually increasing, so the Taiwanese originally called potato starch for too white powder, and now also generally called tapioca starch for too white powder. It will be transparent when cooked with water and heat, and has a QQ-like texture with elasticity.

6, West Valley coconut starch (sago palm starch).

This is not common here, but if I talk about sago, I believe we will not be unfamiliar, sago that is, sago rice, is a specialty of Indonesia, is processed with tapioca, wheat starch, bracteate flour and become a pearl-shaped powder. Sago has skin back to the natural moisturizing function.

In the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea and other countries on many islands, growing a kind of tree called West Valley coconut. The trunk of the West Valley Coconut is thick and straight and contains a lot of starch.

The average West Valley coconut tree lives for 20 years and dies after flowering. People before it is about to bloom, cut down the trunk, remove the branches and leaves, sawed horizontally into sections, each section of about 1 meter, and then split lengthwise into two, with a knife to scrape out the starch inside the stem, immersed in a bucket of water, the starch slowly sinks to the bottom of the bucket, (this is what I'm going to say about the starch of the Xigu coconut).

If the water on top is poured off, after drying it can be processed into rice-like granules, which local residents call Xigu rice. This is the sago that we usually eat inside the coconut sago soup.?

7, crystal powder Clear Roll Cake Flour .

The main ingredients are cornstarch, diamond dust and other starches.

8, Starchy Flour.

Starchy Flour - strictly speaking is a variety of starch general name, mainly for thickening, dim sum, the north called dough powder, Shanghai called diamond powder Starchy Flour is not exclusively referring to which a starch, Starchy Flour is often found in mainland recipes and Hong Kong-style recipes in the term, mostly for hooks.

The cornstarch used in China and Hong Kong is cornstarch, while in Taiwan the customary 茨粉 is tai bai powder. In Chinese cooking, cornstarch is not only used to give food a smooth texture, but also as a marinade to soften meat.

9, mung bean starch - the best thickening starch, but rarely used, production is not much. It is characterized by sufficient viscosity, small water absorption, color white and shiny.

The raw potato starch, potato starch - the most used in the family of the most stable quality of thickening starch, Taiwan is called too white powder. Characterized by sufficient viscosity, fine texture, white color, gloss better than mung bean starch, but poor water absorption.

Added with water and heat will coagulate into a transparent thick, in Chinese cooking (especially Taiwanese cuisine) will often be too white powder with cold water to mix well and add to the boiled dishes to do hooks, so that the soup looks thick, while making the food look glossy on the outside.

In Hong Kong cuisine, cornstarch is usually used to thicken the soup. However, the soup thickened with cornstarch will become thinner when it cools, while the soup thickened with cornstarch will not change when it cools.