Look at the color: pure lotus root starch contains a lot of iron and reducing sugar, which is easily oxidized when it comes into contact with air, making the color of lotus root starch turn from white to reddish. Other starches do not have this change, they are all pure white or slightly yellow;
Appearance: lotus root starch and other starches are sometimes flaky, but the surface of flaky lotus root starch has filiform veins, while the surfaces on both sides of other flaky starches are flat;
Nose smell: Lotus root starch has a unique strong fragrance, but other starches have no such clear fragrance;
Hand test: take a little lotus root starch and rub it with your fingers. Its texture is more delicate and smooth than other starches, and it is as smooth as fat and without any abnormality.
Taste: take a small amount of lotus root starch and put it in your mouth, which will dissolve quickly when it touches saliva; Other starches, however, are not only difficult to dissolve, but also stick together or appear in a lump;
Debugging: take a little lotus root starch and mix it evenly with a little cold boiling water, then mix it with boiling water, and then it will be cooked and eaten, and its water absorption and swelling can reach 8-9 times; After cooling, even if 10 is left for more than 0 hours, only the periphery of the bowl is in a slurry state, and the middle part is still condensed. Other starches need to be heated and cooked on the stove before they can be eaten. Their water absorption and toughness are not as good as those of lotus root starch, and their color is mostly white or brown, and they are opaque.
First, look: lotus root starch is white (or reddish) tasteless powder under normal conditions. After being cooked and gelatinized with boiling water, it is red and translucent, which is slightly lighter than the cooked fresh lotus root. If it is transparent white, or duck eggs are clear in color, or light black, it means that it is adulterated with other low-priced starches, and some even pretend to be raw flour for cooking.
Second, smell: the cooked and gelatinized lotus root powder can smell a faint fragrance inherent in lotus root. Without this clear fragrance, it is not real lotus root starch.
The third is comparison: price comparison. Because the real raw material lotus root starch, its cost price is about 4-5 yuan per catty, plus packaging, manufacturing, transportation costs and manufacturers' taxes and interests, the retail price of 300 grams of lotus root starch per bag is about 10 yuan. Too low a price is likely to be a fake.
Fourth, selection: In the lotus root starch market, various brands and packages of lotus root starch are dazzling. A simple and reliable way to buy lotus root starch is to choose the brand products of well-known manufacturers, and never buy fake lotus root starch by mistake for being cheap.