Starch Extracted From Corms, Roots, Rhizomes, and Tubers for Food Application

Abstract Starch is an important food ingredient because of its applicability, abundance, and low cost. It is added to food mainly to provide texture, viscosity, consistency, and greasiness, little interfering with the proper characteristics of the food. In its commercial form, from any botanical source, it is a water-insoluble, odorless, and tasteless white powder. When cooked in water, it presents characteristics that can vary with the botanical source. In turn, the preparation of food products is quite varied, and can be sweet or salty, bitter or not, more or less cooked; that is why starch, as a food ingredient, must meet the needs of the preparation, its conservation and use, taking into account the requirements of the local legislation. Despite nature presenting several sources of starch, only four starches are commercially available to meet the demands of the market. This chapter discusses the potential of alternative sources of starch and some strategies to find them.