Tapioca starch

Fécule de tapioca

What it is

The word comes from the Tupi tipi’óka, the sediment squeezed out of grated cassava: the starch was originally a by-product of ridding the root of its cyanide, washed out along with the poison before anyone thought to keep it. It is almost entirely amylopectin, which is why it turns stretchy rather than pasty and comes out of the freezer without weeping.

In the kitchen

It thickens at a lower temperature than cornstarch and slackens if you boil it hard, so add it at the end and pull the pan off as soon as the sauce clears. For pão de queijo and chewy breads it must be scalded — pour the boiling liquid onto the starch, never the reverse.

Goes with

Coconut milk Palm sugar Pandan leaf Mango Shrimp Black sesame

Same species

Cassava Tapioca maltodextrin

Also used with

Gula melaka

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us