Six Methods Teach You How to Identify the Pros and Cons of Sweet Potato Starch

At present, in China's edible sweet potato starch production and processing industry, because of the lack of national standards for regulation, the industry standards implemented by different enterprises are also different. This leads to a large difference in the quality of the starch, and the quality of the product is uneven. In recent years, there have been some unscrupulous traders who have made a profit for themselves. They have faked the products, shoddy them, and harmed the interests of consumers.

How to distinguish the authenticity of sweet potato starch is a big problem for ordinary consumers. Based on years of research on sweet potato starch (equipment), Goodway Potato Industry provides you with the following simple methods to help you easily identify the advantages and disadvantages of sweet potato starch:

Method 1: Visual inspection - Used to visually identify the level of impurities in starch
Intuitive visual effect: sweet potato starch is bright and white, indicating less impurity content, high starch whiteness and good product quality. On the contrary, there are many impurities, low whiteness and poor quality.
Judging method: Take 5-10 grams of sweet potato starch spread on a clean glass plate, and press the starch into a thin layer with another thick glass to observe whether the color of the sweet potato starch is white and whether there are inclusions. When observing, place the sample on a clear, transparent, clean glass plate. The white paper is lined underneath, avoiding direct light and using reflected light. The amount of impurities in this way is clearly identifiable.

Method 2: Touch - Used to sense the level of moisture in the starch
Intuitive sensory test: rely on finger sensory to test the approximate content of sweet potato starch moisture.
Test method: knead sweet potato starch with fingers and knead the starch into thin slices. The starch flakes on the fingers were shaken to the table at a height of 20 cm from the table top. If the starch flakes are in the form of loose powder, the starch is relatively dry and the water content is below 15%. If the starch flakes are in small pieces, the water content is between 15% and 20%. If the flakes are not scattered, the water content is above 20%. Hold the sweet potato starch by hand and hold it tightly. The loose hand can explain that the sweet potato starch is relatively dry. After loosening the powder, it is difficult to disperse, indicating that the sweet potato starch contains too much water.

Method 3: Ear Listening - Used to determine whether starch contains other starch
Test method: knead the sweet potato starch by hand. If you hear the sound of "creak", or directly knead the sweet potato starch with your fingers, and make a "creak" sound, it means pure sweet potato starch. If the talc powder, wheat flour, and corn flour are mixed in the sweet potato starch, the sound will not be heard or the sound will be slight. This method requires some knowledge of starch discrimination to be feasible.

Method 4: Pile powder to look sharp - this method determines whether starch is adulterated
Judgment method: The sweet potato starch is piled into a cone shape by hand, and the degree of the bluntness of the cone tip is seen. Pure sweet potato starch has a low and slow tip, and the mixed sweet potato starch has a high and steep tip. This method is used to judge the quality of starch.

Method 5: Taste - Used to distinguish the quality of sweet potato starch
Discrimination method: Take a small amount of starch and send it to the mouth. Determine whether the sweet potato starch has odor and impurities by sensory buds and teeth.

If the acidity is strong, it indicates that the sweet potato starch is over-fermented when it is processed by the sulphur pulp process. After washing, it is not washed with water or washed thoroughly (washing, the syrup supernatant is removed, and then added with water and stirred to precipitate). The noodles are slightly weaker;

If the sweet potato starch has acid-and mildew, it means that the sweet potato starch has a long-term wet-keeping time before drying, and the mildew is changed. This sweet potato starch is easy to break when processing the noodles; if there is talcum powder taste, wheat flour taste, etc., it is mixed with impurities. When chewing with teeth, if there is a feeling of gums, the amount of sediment in the sweet potato starch is more. Sweet potato starch has no peculiar smell, and chewing without gums indicates high-quality sweet potato starch.

Method 6: Water Sink - Used to identify the quality and impurity content of starch
Test method: Take about 50 grams of sweet potato starch and put it in a beaker or transparent glass container. Add 180-200 ml of water and mix well. After stirring for 1 min in one direction, it was allowed to stand for 5 min, and the sweet potato starch milk was slowly poured out. Pay attention to the amount of sand or sand on the bottom layer. The sweet potato starch milk was then precipitated in a colorless transparent glass or beaker for 3 hours to observe the precipitation. If the precipitation is fast, the starch sinks neatly, the upper layer is clear, and the bottom layer is free of fine sand, which is high quality sweet potato starch. If the precipitation is slow, the upper layer of water is yellower and the sand is more, it is a low quality powder. If corn flour, wheat flour, etc. are added, the precipitation is not obvious and the upper layer is turbid.

The above methods are for reference only and we hope to provide some help in the quality discrimination of starch.

Goodway provides professional potato starch making machine, welcome to inquire!