Using Arrowroot as a thickener?

[Guest guest]

I've have tried using arrowroot several times in my soups to help thicken them.

Although it does thicken them a little, I've heard that it should work just like

flour and be able to thicken soup a lot. Is this correct? I was recently trying

to make chicken pot pie and used arrowroot as the thickening agent for the

filling and it made it creamy but no where close to as thick as I needed the

filling to be for a pot pie.

Any suggestions would be awesome and greatly appreciated. I am trying my best to

develop recipes that don't require the use of white flour.

Therese Asmus

www.artistta.blogspot.com

[Guest guest]

I much prefer to use kuzu root starch (available in macrobiotic sections of

health food stores/food co-ops) for thickening. I found that arrowroot will

thicken at first but is prone to " breaking, " meaning after thickening it can

turn runny and thin.

[Guest guest]

Therese,

I use arrowroot as a thickener. Maybe you are not using enough? Tell me

what you are doing.

Carol

[Guest guest]

Therese in MN,

I've been using arrowroot powder lately. (We're on the Body

Ecology Diet). I find that I have to use a little more arrowroot

than I think. Also, it says on the package; " Arrowroot is best

used at the end of your cooking just before boiling, as

continued heating will cause it to lose it's thickening ability. "

Since we aren't allowed gluten, (or corn yet) on this diet, I

sometimes thicken my soups by pureeing some stock and

red potatoes, or stock & cauliflower to get some thickness

and creaminess in my soups.

Hope this helps.

Therese in WI

[Guest guest]

I've not had any luck with Arrowroot either. My current go-to thickener is

coconut flour.

[Guest guest]

When I've used the arrowroot, I've used it at the very end, knowing that is

supposedly breaks down if heated too much. When I was making my pot pie, I used

twice as much arrowroot as I would flour and it thickened okay, more to a thin,

but creamy soup consistency. I never baked the pie, because I knew the filling

wasn't thick enough, instead I started over and used flour and kept the " bad "

batch for soup. I read that arrowroot is a 1:3 ratio to flour, so 1 tablespoon

of arrowroot would be equivalent to 3 tablespoons of flour. That has not been

the case for me.

I like baking with arrowroot, just no success using it as a thickening agent. I

am trying my best to get rid of all white flour in my kitchen. As of now, the

only time I need it is to thicken soups/stews/pies, etc.

I'm working on developing recipes for my blog and I'd love to include arrowroot

as a thickener, so people can avoid white flour all together. I'll have to try

some of the other suggestions for thickeners.

Therese Asmus

www.artistta.blogspot.com

Subject: Re:Using Arrowroot as a thickener?

To: trad-foods-MN

Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010, 10:04 AM

 

Therese,

I use arrowroot as a thickener. Maybe you are not using enough? Tell me

what you are doing.

Carol

[Guest guest]

We have had fairly good success with sprouted grain flour. We have not used

it for a lot of things but it makes a tasty light butter/milk sauce.

The one time I used arrowroot powder in a stew, I treated it just like one

would use corn starch to make gravy. Then add this extra thick " gravy "

mixture to the soup/stew. I was actually surprised at how well it worked

for me.

Jeff

[Guest guest]

Aside from using kuzu root for thickening, I also use amaranth flour and like it

for gravies, etc.