starches don’t normally have. Such starches
are listed on ingredient labels as “modified
starch.”
The Influence of Other
Ingredients on Starch Sauces
Flavorings: Salt, Sugar, Acid Starch and
water are the basis for a sauce’s structure, and
most other ingredients have only secondary
effects on that structure. Salt, acid, and sugar
are frequently added for their contributions to
flavor. Salt slightly lowers the gelation
temperature of starch, while sugars increase
it. Acids in the form of wine or vinegar
encourage the fragmentation of starch chains
into much shorter lengths, so that starch
granules gelate and disintegrate at lower
temperatures, and the final product is less
viscous for a given amount of starch. Root
starches are noticeably affected by moderate
acidity (a pH lower than 5), while grain