[Sca-cooks] Starch in cooking

[Susan Lord]

I am still not getting it. When I go to the supermarket, what can I buy as an equivalent of starch or can I just spray on the starch from my laundry room? - Don’t like the latter as forefathers didn’t have spray cans in the Middle Ages. . . The supermarket catalogue does not list starch/amidon. I see that maizena is cornstarch but I assume that is from corn on the cob which did not exist in 13th century Spain? I see I have Tapioca flour but that is not starch - no? 

> Terry Decker wrote:
> 
> The endosperm of any grain consists primarily of starch which can be 
> extracted with water.  The earliest reference to the practice in Europe is 
> in Pliny's Natural Histories.  Recipes that call for amydon are calling for 
> wheat starch.  In regards the Anonymous Andalusian cookbook, the starch will 
> likely be either wheat starch or rice starch.
> 
> In practice, your spray starch might actually work, but let me recommend 
> that you use something a little more ordinary.  Since the primary 
> differences in extracted starches are in the trace chemicals, to test the 
> recipe you could use wheat starch, rice starch, corn (maize) starch, potato 
> starch, tapioca (cassava) flour, or arrowroot powder.
> 
> Bear
> 
> On Nov 13, 2016 10:25 AM, "Susan Lord" <lordhunt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> The Anon Al-Andalus recipe 469, translated by Perry/Friedman as an
>> "Eastern Sweet" calls for starch. What does that mean in layman terms? All
>> I can think of are ridiculous items like a throw in a potato or spray it
>> with my starch can used when ironing. . .
>