Title: Starches Date: October 23, 2012 Name: Abby Grasta

Lab Partners: Rowan, Rich, Faith

Purpose: To study the effectiveness of starches and slurries when exposed to different variables, or purposeful mistakes. Observations: Put 2 tablespoons starch in 2 cups of water to create a slurry for 1 quart of boiling water. Hypothesis: If we make mistakes in the experiment using several different starches, there will be decreased effectiveness when trying to create a slurry. Procedure: Create normal slurries with 2 T starch using AP flour, cornstarch, potato starch, and tapioca starch dissolved in 2 cups of cold water. Whisk these and note what takes place (follow procedure for making a traditional slurry). Then, using these same starches, consider what happens when we change the procedure for creating a slurry. For AP flour, toast the flour before making the slurry. For cornstarch, throw it all in the boiling water without mixing with cold water first. For potato starch, add sugar to the slurry. And for tapioca starch, overwhisk the slurry. Data / Results: Ingredient AP flour

Control -looks like white milk -thick consistency -frothy -thin after cooler -very smooth consistency -very thick and clear -texture of a watery jam -dimpled surface -slurry created quickly -thicker after cooling

cornstarch

potato starch

tapioca starch

Variable -smells like burnt popcorn -flour settles to bottom quickly -looks like iced coffee to begin, and apple cider after settling occurs -white lumps -creamy, discolored tint -thinner than control -sugar becomes gel-like -snotty, sticky texture -allowed for less distribution of starch -breaks easily -air pockets inside slurry

Conclusions: We can conclude that in order for slurries to be effective in thickening liquids, we need to follow an accurate procedure. If we vary the procedure for starches, our slurries will not be able to function as a thickener. When the AP flour was toasted, it changed the chemical makeup of the starch by not letting the starch granule absorb moisture. When we did not create a slurry by mixing the cold water and cornstarch before putting the cornstarch in the boiling water, the starch was not able to gelatinize and the amount of cornstarch overwhelmed the water. The sugar added to potato starch allowed for less distribution of starch because the as the sugar dissolved in the water, less moisture was able to be absorbed by the starch granules. Overwhisking the tapioca starch slurry brought the slurry past the point of gelatinization and broke the slurry so that it was not able to stay together when dipping a finger in tested some of the slurry. The slurry did not stay on the finger because it was too slippery and slid off too easily.