Maranta is a tropical plant originating from South America, with lively decorative and variegated leaves, which draw two shades of green, and is also called the Prayer Plant precisely because they close in two by two, as when the hands in prayer.

It is a perennial shrub that has tuber-shaped roots, belonging to the Marantaceae family; specifically, it is from the Maranta Arundinacea that is derived from the starch of maranta, used in the kitchen in many recipes .

Use of maranta starch

It is used as starch or starch, especially for doci and cakes . Much used in the United States, where it is known as arrowroot, not to be confused with the Brazilian arrowroot which is instead the other name of the more well-known tapioca starch.

Maranta starch is used as a thickener for soups, velvety, sweet and savory sauces, jams and desserts.

Gluten and maranta

The fantastic thing is that maranta starch does not contain gluten, so it can be used safely even by those who are intolerant or suffer from celiac disease .

However, every single food must be well controlled: the products marked for safe consumption by a celiac must carry the crossed ear and / or the " gluten-free " warning on the label or be on the AIC handbook.

With maranta starch you can even prepare bread, obviously mixing it with other other flours, such as sorghum, tapioca, quinoa, millet, corn, broad beans or chickpeas.

Nb : organic maranta starch is not that cheap : the price per kilo is around 30/32 euros, so a small bag of 250gr comes to cost up to 6/8 euros. There is good that has a high thickening power : a teaspoon of maranta starch is enough to thicken more than two liters of water.