Did you cook? Chemically speaking… Part-2
Chemically speaking, starch is a complex carbohydrate found in many plants and is a vital part of the human diet, providing a major source of energy. Chemically, starch is composed of long chains of glucose molecules linked together, which can be broken down by the body into individual glucose units for energy. Culinary speaking, starch is the most universally used thickener for foods, found in most root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, onions, and such. In the culinary world, these vegetables sweeten stews to bring some sustenance to foods, as starches are the base compounds that fill you up.
Starch is present in the overly cultivated foods such as potatoes, rice, wheat, and corn. These plants store starch as a source of energy for growth and reproduction, sort of like a seed. In the human diet, starch acts as a staple food, and many cultures would concur that it was the main part of every meal due to its availability, versatility, and ability to provide energy. In fact, potatoes are one of the most filling foods by weight on this planet, which is why it has been cultivated all the way from 8000 to 5000 B.C, for their excellent growth time and filling ratio, or in this case, their starch content. The same can be said for rice, another starch-rich food that was cultivated from 7000–5000 B.C; if it filled people up in ancient times, we can certainly rely on it to fill a dish we make these days.
More than 50 types of starches come from plants, and all of them have different levels of digestibility. They all do have the same use, which is to thicken products, but some starches have longer chains making them harder to digest in specific use cases. For example, rice starches are more short chained making it easier for babies to digest, hence it is used in baby foods and in confectionery coatings which are often raw.
The way the body digests starches, or the nutritionist term of “carbs,” is the mouth breaks down a carb-rich food into mush, from which the enzymes within the saliva start to break down the long chains of glucose. The process continues in the stomach and small intestine until the starch is completely broken down into glucose, which can then be absorbed by the body and used for energy. After which the basic chemical reaction of Glucose+Oxygen = CO2+H2O+ATP occurs.
A simple way to think of starch is a precursor to cellulose, the compound for paper or cotton. Cellulose is a higher-level monomer of starch, where both are made with the same building block, glucose. Cellulose uses much more binding units of glucose, hence why its stronger physically and even more so chemically. Animals are able to get more abundant and more readily available resources of said carbs by chewing their cud. They graze on plants and digest them partially, breaking them down into smaller chains of glucose monomers. They regurgitate the cud and digest them a second time, effectively achieving the same effect as eating any regular food, but going around the evolutionary barrier and adapting a new source of nutrition.
In addition to its dietary importance, starch has numerous industrial applications. It is used as a thickening agent and binder in paper and textile manufacturing and in the production of biodegradable plastics and adhesives. Modified starches, which are starches that have been chemically or physically altered, are used in various food products for their unique functional properties. There are modified starches used by specific production companies to add to yeast during fermentation and production of polyurethanes, resins, and, as stated before, biodegradable plastics.
The study of starch, including its structure, harvesting, and applications, is a significant area of research in food science and technology. Advances in this field continue to improve our understanding of how starches behave in different conditions and how they can be utilized in new and innovative ways, and many more ways in which we can improve the production of starch. For example, a synthetic molecule has been found in the UK that aids in the production of starch in wheat grains, boosting it by 20%. This means you can expect the rice to have more calories too, making it economically beneficial to those who produce it and those who want a great meal.
You can test out of the effectiveness of starch pretty easily by just making mashed potatoes. The cells of potatoes contain starch, and starch leaks out plentifully when the cell walls of a potato are broken and mixed together. The potato also contains basic water, flavonoid chemicals, and oils, which can thicken the potatoes when mixed with the leaked starch. You can try to mash your potatoes with a ricer or metal mesh, and it’ll come out smooth as you break fewer cells in the process. in other scenarios where you rusticly mash it with a fork or potato masher, you will see it become coarser and thicker. If you want to use starch in your daily cooking to thicken food, take 5–10 grams (based upon the volume of food) of a starch like Maida and dissolve it in a few drops of water before pouring it into a liquid-based sauce or stew. It really is that simple; you can just put starch directly into most foods you want to thicken, and it works out most times as it is a very potent emulsifier. Don’t use too much, though, as eating raw starch brings its own risks, so cook it with fat before using it or use fewer quantities.
That would be it for the fundamentals of making a meal filling and how you can alter the texture of your food based on the foods you cook. The next article will cover the concept of fermenting foods chemically, how to pickle effectively using science and preferably hygiene. Look out for the ways in which you can spice up your dishes with simple chemistry
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