Suggestions for Testing Grains and Starches

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:44 pm

SUGGESTIONS FOR TESTING COMMON GLUTEN-FREE GRAINS AND STARCHES

It can be difficult to test grains and starches because they are typically used in combination with other ingredients. It is hard to tell which grain or starch is the problem. To test them, make sure there are no other ingredients or only use other ingredients that you know are safe.

STARCHES
Arrowroot
· Make pudding, using arrowroot as the thickener. Here’s a recipe: http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12745
·Arrowroot is sold in 20 oz. bags at some Whole Foods and on the Internet

Cornstarch
· If you react to whole corn, it may be because of the roughness. Corn kernels are not easily digested.
· Make pudding, using cornstarch as the thickener. Cornstarch has little protein and you might tolerate it even if you can’t tolerate corn. Here’s a recipe: http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 6413#86413

Potato starch
· Obviously, if you can tolerate potatoes, you can tolerate potato starch.
· Test potato starch by using it to make gravy.
· I’m not able to eat potatoes, but I haven’t noticed problems with potato starch, presumably because it doesn’t have much, if any, protein. I only use it in my bread mix.

Tapioca
· Make Chebe bread, which is made out of tapioca starch http://www.chebe.com/ The mix requires eggs.
· Make tapioca pudding as a test. Warning: Minute Tapioca contains soy. A soy-free tapioca called made by Let’s Do…Organic is available at Whole Foods.
· Note: Ener-G Egg Replacer contains tapioca, as do most GF mixes.

GRAINS/SEEDS
Many grains in their whole form have too much fiber for an inflamed gut, even when fully cooked. Use grains/seeds as flour in baking or as finely cracked meal in cereal until your gut heals. White rice is an exception and is usually tolerated when cooked to a mushy consistency. The simplest way to test grains is to make a hot cereal, but the grain should be ground to a coarse consistency and cooked until very soft.

Amaranth
·Try Nu World amaranth cereal: http://nuworldfoods.com/cart/product.as ... d=92201008

Buckwheat
·Make buckwheat cereal with coarse ground buckwheat. Whole Foods carries Pocono buckwheat cereal.
·Buy white buckwheat groats. It is available at Whole Foods in the bulk section. It has a mild flavor, unlike roasted buckwheat, which is called Kasha.
·Buckwheat grinds to fine flour in a blender.

Corn
·Make grits, which is cooked white corn meal. Quaker Oats sells it in a small container.

Quinoa
·Buy Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes and make a hot cereal.

Millet
·Buy Arrowhead Mills puffed millet cereal. Note that the packaging doesn’t say that it’s gluten-free.

Oats
·Most of us avoid oats and oat flour because of the high possibility of cross-contamination. If you want to test it, purchase an organic brand that is not manufactured with other glutinous grains. Grind the oats a minute or so in a blender to turn it into instant oatmeal.

Rice
·Make Cream of Rice, which is cooked white rice meal.
·Make gooey rice, which is rice cooked for a longer time with more water.

Sorghum
·Sorghum and millet are in the same grain family and are very similar. Your tolerance for millet should be similar to your tolerance for sorghum.
·Anna’s breads use sorghum. If you tested all other ingredients in her mixes, try making a bread mix with it.

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:59 pm

Gloria this is a great write up. It's great that you called out in detail the different types of grains. It is hard to separate them as most products do combine various ingredients, making it hard to find out what you are reacting to.

Thanks for putting this together. I have been struggling for a while to understand all of the various grains and how they are commonly used.

--Joe

Post by **tex** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:02 pm

Gloria,

I don't know if you would want to include some basic information about cereal grains, and types of flour, or not, but here is some basic info, in case you're interested:

Cereal grains, (or cereals, or grains), are grasses, and they're members of the monocot families Poaceae or Gramineae), cultivated for the edible components of their fruit seeds, which, botanically, are a type of fruit called a caryopsis, (comprised of the endosperm, germ, and bran). The term cereal is derived from Ceres, the name of the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture.

Depending on which of the 3 basic anatomical components are used, (endosperm, germ, and bran), there are three general types of flour, commonly available.

1. Starch, (or white flour), which is made from the endosperm only.

2. Germ flour, which is made from the endosperm and germ, (with the bran removed). (The bran, of course, contains most of the fiber).

3. Whole grain flour, which, of course, is made by grinding whole kernels of cereal grains, without separating out any of the original components. In fact, in order to meet USDA labeling specs for whole grain products, the proportions of the various anatomical components, (the endosperm, germ, and bran), must be present in the finished product, in the same relative proportions as they exist in the original, intact kernels of grain).

FWIW

If you're interested in using any of this info, please feel free to edit it in any way you please.

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:32 pm

Tex,

Thank you for the information I'm working on a page for creating flour blends. Your information might be more appropriate there.

I do have a question about #1: 1. Starch, (or white flour), which is made from the endosperm only.

I always thought that cornstarch and potato starch were made from the residue left in the water after cooking the corn or potato.

Arrowroot is made by grinding the root of the plant and drying the resulting liquid. I believe tapioca starch is made the same way as arrowroot.

Maybe we're talking about two different things.

Gloria

connie · Post by **connie** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:50 pm

Gloria,
Thank you for the time, thought and effort you put into this post about testing grains. I have been aching to ask you about Potato starch as I can no longer eat potatos and had cut potato starch too. I am very excited to try it in a simple white rice bread that I make. Thank you, thank you. It is past time that I also thank you for posting your intolerances in great detail. I am very discouraged right now as it seems I am down to white rice and lean meat. Thanks so much.
Connie

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:50 pm

Gloria when you say potato starch I am assuming that's for white potatoes, what about sweet potatoes? Or are they considered a different class of food, I seem to remember that they may be.

The reason I ask is that a local bakery in the area that makes GF products had talked about a sweet potato flour used to make a muffin. I was wondering would that be treated the same as a white potato?

Thanks

--Joe

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:22 am

This is AWESOME! Thank you so much!!

Post by **tex** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:31 am

Gloria,

No, we're talking about the same thing, but the extraction of starch from grains, is far more complex than the extraction of starch from tubers, and similar sources of starch. I only mentioned flours made from grain, because in the case of starch, the processing required for the efficient extraction of starch, and separation of the germ, corn oil, etc., is a rather detailed process, that requires numerous steps. By comparison, making starch from potatoes, arrowroot, tapioca, (or any other normally-moist source of starch, that does not reside within a pericarp), is a piece of cake. You can even extract the starch at home, in your kitchen, by simply placing the shredded product in a cloth, and squeezing out the starch, (in the liquid), the remaining pulp can be used for flour, (after drying and pulverizing, of course). No cooking is necessary, to extract potato starch, because it will come right out, with the existing liquid in the potato.

Yes, hydrolysis is used to extract corn starch, but due to the glutinous pericarp that houses each kernel of corn, and the presence of a significant amount of corn oil in the germ, the extraction process is much more complex than simply cooking the corn. Here's how cornstarch is made:

http://www.starch.dk/isi/starch/tm18www-corn.htm

Joe, sweet potatoes obviously make a different starch, (just as sweet potato flour is different from Irish potato flour), but it can be extracted just as simply as potato starch, (by squeezing it out with the liquid), and desiccating it, and then pulverizing it.

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:14 pm

Wow, making cornstarch is a big production, yet it is the cheapest of all starches. Thank you for the explanations and link.

Gloria

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:11 pm

Gloria,

What a wealth of info you have provided! This is terrific and should be put in the Kitchen =/or in the section on how to do the elimination diet. We don't want to lose this..... it is valuable and should be readily available to any member. Thanks so much. You probably don't realize how impressive this is to a baking-impaired MCer like me.

Hugs,

Polly

P.S. Sweet potato flour? Joe, that's right up my alley. Has anyone ever seen this in a store?

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:48 pm

This is so interesting and complex (and thank you, Gloria for the incredible resource).

Joe, as Tex has said, you're right - sweet potatoes and white potatoes are in different (but distantly related) botanical families. Sweet potatoes, believe it or not, are related to morning glories. I'm betting you already know white potatoes are in the nightshade clan.

Also sweet potatoes are a true root, while potatoes are tubers - that's why you can propagate them from little offsets (and they grow like crazy in my compost pile). None of that makes a big difference in the eating, and both have lots of tropical relatives with reputations for toxicity - and safe ones, as well (intolerances permitting).

I agree with Polly - bring on the sweet potato flour ;) And I also agree that it's helpful from the point of view of the elimination diet as well. That's where I'm headed - and I will be postponing nightshades for a while, based on my understanding of the super-helpful link on lectins that Mary Beth shared. I know I have to wait until I clear the current hurdle before I start that process, and any reaction I have now may tell me more about how disturbed my whole system is, top to bottom, than about the particular food.

Best,
Sara

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:29 pm

Found it Gloria, and it's truly great! When my head is less fuzzy I will study and try to understand it.

I am not baking until this cake is finished, but this is an invaluable source of information for me.

Thanks!

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:35 pm

Excellent, Gloria!! Thank you!!!

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 3:07 pm

I thought I had thanked you Gloria. Sometimes I think I have posted, but find no message, and sometimes the message appears 2x. Weird!

Ginny · Post by **Ginny** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:58 am

Gloria, as usual you are very thorough and this information would be extremely important particularly to the newbies!. I am reading a book; The Body Ecology by Donna Gates and one of the suggestions she makes (as well as others I have read) is to soak your grains 8-24 hours, dump the water and rinse prior to cooking. This is to make the grains easier to digest and I am speaking about alternative grains. You can also then heat them up in a pan prior to cooking to get a nuttier taste. I am going to try this with lentils next week.

Love G