Maize starch is a food additive (E1404) that also belongs to the group of Native starches like potato starch, wheat starch, and tapioca-rice starch. It is also known as Corn starch, Corn flour, and Maizena (a popular South African household ingredient used for the thickening of sauces and soups). This type of starch is white to cream, homogeneous powder and normally is of a neutral taste or smell.
Maize starch production is normally a wet milling process where the starch is extracted from the endosperm of a kennel. The overall process involves cleaning grains, steeping, milling, separating the husk- germ-gluten, and drying the product.
Until the mid-1800s, Corn-starch was predominantly used for the starching of laundry and glue but has since grown into many areas of application.
Maize Starch has many applications and is in a variety of industries across the world, some of these include:
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Bakery industry to improve texture and tenderness of cakes.
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The thickening of sauces, puddings, and gravies.
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In Ice-cream it gives a higher strength and denser structure, as well in the production of Ice-cream cones.
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Forming a basic constituent/component in many Sweet and Savoury food products
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Baby powder formulas in small dosages contribute to texture and moisture stability.
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Paper manufacturing and adhesives, with good adhesive properties, it is used to enhance the bonding strength of paper as well as corrugated box manufacturing.
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Used as a binding agent in Bath Bombs Bath Bombs.
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It is one of the core ingredients in children’s Play Dough.
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Pharmaceutical Industry as a filler, humectant, binder, and disintegrant. The disintegration properties allow the capsules to easily break down in the body and be absorbed.
