Potato starch

Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain starch grains (leucoplasts). To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed; the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells. The starch is then washed out and dried to powder.

Potato starch contains typical large oval spherical granules; their size ranges between 5 and 100 μm. Potato starch is a very refined starch, containing minimal protein or fat. This gives the powder a clear white colour, and the cooked starch typical characteristics of neutral taste, good clarity, high binding strength, long texture and a minimal tendency to foaming or yellowing of the solution.

Potato starch contains approximately 800 ppm phosphate bound to the starch; this increases the viscosity and gives the solution a slightly anionic character, a low gelatinisation temperature (approximately 140 °F (60 °C)^[1]) and high swelling power.

These typical properties are used in food and technical applications.^[2]

Use[link]

Potato starch and potato starch derivatives are used in many recipes, for example in noodles, wine gums, cocktail nuts, potato chips, hot dog sausages, bakery cream and instant soups and sauces, in gluten-free recipes^[3] in kosher foods for Passover^[4] and in Asian cuisine.^[5] In pastry, e.g. sponge cake, it is used to keep the cake moist and give a soft texture. It is also occasionally used in the preparation of pre-packed grated cheese, to reduce sweating and binding. Helmipuuro is a porridge made from monodisperse grains of potato starch and milk.

It is also used in technical applications as wallpaper adhesive, for textile finishing and textile sizing, in paper coating and sizing and as an adhesive in paper sacks and gummed tape.

Potato starch was also used in one of the earlier color photography processes, the Lumière brothers' Autochrome Lumière, until the arrival of colour film in the mid-1930s.

Potato Varieties[link]

Microsopic view: potato starch (amyloplasts) in plant cell

There are many types of potatoes. For the production of potato starch, potato varieties with high starch content (high under water weight) and high starch yields are selected. Recently, a new type of potato plant was developed that only contains one type of starch molecule: amylopectin, the waxy potato starch. Waxy starches, after starch gelatinisation, retrograde less during storage.

The cultivation of potatoes for starch mainly takes place in Germany, the Netherlands, China, Japan^[6], France, Denmark and Poland, but also in Sweden, Finland, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Some potato starch is also produced as a by-product from the potato processing industry, recovered from the peelings produced during production of French fries and potato chips.

See also[link]

• Corn starch
• Katakuriko

References[link]

External links[link]

• Memorandum on potato starch, International Starch Institute
• Potato starch gelatinization film , Youtube
• Recipes.wikia, potato starch recipes

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (April 2011)

Sarah Carey is a former Esat Telecom employee^[1] and former columnist for The Sunday Times^[2] and The Irish Times.^[3] She is currently a radio presenter on Newstalk and has presented for TV3. She resigned from The Irish Times in March 2011 after an appearance on national television during which she defended leaking information from the Moriarty Tribunal about political donations from Denis O'Brien to Irish political parties.

Education and early work[link]

Carey has a degree in History from Trinity College, Dublin and a post-graduate diploma in Business Studies from the Michael Smurfit Business School in University College Dublin.^[4] She has performed freelance PR/marketing work for a number of companies and the political party Fine Gael. She has also worked for Esat Digifone.^[4]

Blogging and newspaper columns[link]

In 2002, she began writing the blog GUBU, "An Irish woman’s social, political and domestic commentary". Then Sunday Times Irish Editor Fiona McHugh, offered Carey a column after reading the blog. The Sunday Times column ended when she started writing a weekly opinion column for The Irish Times in 2008.^[5] The blog also ended in 2008.

Moriarty Tribunal[link]

Witness[link]

Because she had worked as Marketing Coordinator for ESat Telecom, she was a witness at the Moriarty Tribunal.^[6][7] In 2004, she leaked information provided to her by the tribunal about political donations made by Denis O'Brien. These leaks were published by journalist Stephen Collins in The Sunday Tribune. She denied to her legal team that she had been the source of the leak, and they then informed the Tribunal of her denial. Some days later she admitted to them she was the source and explained her role and motivations to the Tribunal when questioned under oath. The Tribunal judge publicly rebuked her in 2004 for wasting the tribunal's time in identifying the source of the leak, describing it as "irresponsible" and "not remotely justified".^[8]

Moriarty Tribunal report and aftermath[link]

When the final Tribunal report was published in March 2011, she appeared on Prime Time, a national TV news analysis show, in which she defended the leak and her support for Mr O'Brien.^[1] Days later, she resigned from her job with The Irish Times.^[9]. In a statement, the editor said that "her credibility as a columnist had been damaged by the findings of the report of the Moriarty tribunal and its aftermath. In order to protect the reputation of The Irish Times, her position as a columnist was untenable." She continues to write for other newspapers.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website of Newstalk