What Does Corn Flour Look Like?

What does Corn flour look like?

In this brief article, we will answer the question of what does corn flour look like and 3 ways to differentiate between corn flour and cornstarch

What does Corn flour look like?

Corn flour is usually a yellowish-white powder made of corn. The texture is smooth and firm and the same as the whole wheat flour.

What is Corn flour?

Corn Flour is a type of flour milled from the dried kernel of corn, it contains hulls, germs and endosperm and considered whole grain flour of corn. Its texture is firm and smooth, you can recognize it right away. It is used to structure baked goods and to provide shapes to them.

The taste of cornflour is not very good in raw form but it imparts a tasty effect when cooked. It is versatile and works with any recipe like muffins, waffles, pancakes, battered foods and fried foods.

How Corn flour is made:

Corn flour is the flour of corn grain and it is the whole grain flour. Corn flour is the result of grinding hull, germ and endosperm in mills. This milled flour is a fine powder obtained from the kernels of flour. The powder has a shade of yellow and white. Sometimes corn flour is blue depending on the manufacturers.

The powdered corn flour is packed in plastic bags, these bags are airtight sealed to avoid exposure to moisture. These plastic bags are then packed inside cardboard boxes to complete the process.

Where Corn flour is used:

Corn flour finds its application in many food items including baked goods and fried items.

It is used as a binding agent for bakery items like puddings
It is used as a thickener for soups, stews, sauces and liquid dishes.
It is used as breading in Italian cuisine
It is used as a coating in many fried items like chicken tempura

Nutritional value of corn flour:

Corns are grains containing carbs, proteins and vitamins, but corn flour is a little different from wheat flour. Corn flour contains fibres, proteins, Vitamin B, iron, potassium, magnesium and many other nutrients. Corn flour has 422 calories per packet of which 37 are from fat. It has 30% total carbohydrates and 15.7 grams of dietary fibre in it

What is corn starch?

Corn starch is another ingredient made from corn and obtained from the grain. It is made only of the endosperm of the grain, a more refined and milled form of cornflour. It has the most starch and hence the name is corn starch, as endosperm is rich in starch.

Other FAQs about Flour which you may be interested in.

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Difference between Corn flour and Cornstarch?

Corn flour and corn starch are both milled products of corn grain but they have some differences in processing, flavour and functions.

Processing differences:

Both cornstarch and corn flours are made of corn and a result of corn milling. But corn flour is made from the whole grain while corn starch is only made from the endosperm of the grain. A kernel of any grain is its seed which has three components: Germ, Endosperm and hulls. When milling corn if the whole kernel is ground the product is corn flour.

To get cornstarch the part of the kernel rich in starch is separated from the kernel. This part is the endosperm of the kernel and is milled to obtain corn starch. Corn starch has a major amount of starch and corn flour has all of the food components including proteins, carbs and vitamins.

2. Flavour differences:

Corn flavours have an earthy, sweet taste when cooked just like corn. In contrast, corn starch is flavourless and is only used for texture purposes. It has a starchy taste and sticks with the tongue when consumed raw. Corn flour also lacks flavour if tasted raw but upon cooking it develops a characteristic taste that is like corn’s earthy taste.

3. Functions in recipes:

Corn flour and cornstarch are often confused due to almost the same name and sometimes people interchange their name too. But unlike their name they don’t have interchangeable functions in food. Not only the flavour of these two corn’s milling products is different but also their function differs.

Corn flour has proteins In it like gluten and adds elasticity to the recipe that is why it is used in baking goods. Corn flour is a major component in baking biscuits, waffles, pancakes and pastries.

Corn starch on the other hand is used for texture purposes, as it is only composed of starch and nothing else it functions as a frying agent. It is used In frying fishes, thickening soups, sauces and stews.

These are the differences between corn flour and corn starch, another distinct difference is nutritional value. As they can’t be interchanged in the diet they are usually used for specific purposes.