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Herbs: Arrowroot - powder

Common Name: Arrowroot
Latin Name: Maranta arundinacea

Excerpts from Nourishing Traditions

Arrowroot flour, the only starch with a calcium ash, is a nutritious food obtained from the fleshy root stock of a tropical American plant. It is an easily digested food well fitted for infants and the convalescent.

It resembles cornstarch in being white, fine and powdery. When heated in water in certain portions, it thickens to form a jelly, an excellent thickening agent. It is also considered more desirable for gravies, sauces and pastries than some of the more common starches and flours. It is used primarily for food in dietetic use, where it enjoys a reputation for smoothness and palatability.

Arrowroot was once widely used in baby formulas as a superior carbohydrate, experience having shown it agreed with babies better than any other starch or sugar. We now know the reason: it is the only starch product with a calcium ash. In this regard, the calcium chloride, in the form of calcium found in arrowroot starch, is very important for the maintenance of proper acid and alkali balances in the human body.

Arrowroot only thrives on tidal flats where sea minerals are available. Its known health-building properties may be due to trace minerals from the sea, as well as from the calcium it gets from the sea water. If it is used in ice cream formulas in place of cornstarch, arrowroot imparts a vanilla-like flavor and a smooth texture. Arrowroot as it comes to you is not a refined product; it is simply the dried and powdered root.

From Our Reading and/or Experience...

• Arrowroot is a food, and thus we keep it in the kitchen. We add it to many food recipes (hot cereals, sauces, gravies, meat dishes, vegetable dishes, stir-fry, baby food and formulas, waffles and pancakes, ice cream, etc.).
• It's excellent as a thickener that adds nutrition to your recipes, rather than cornstarch which is highly processed.
• It can be used to benefit anyone: men, women (including before, during or after pregnancy, and nursing) and children.
• It can be used as often as you would like, and in any way you choose.

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