Cornflour

When my dear mother-in-law moved from a small flat into somewhere more suitable for her needs, we helped her sort everything out, including going through the kitchen cupboards. it had all got a bit much for her, and we found some interesting things. She was an excellent cook and until she had a fall she would always cook properly for herself.

One of the things we discovered was a collection of packets of cornflour; she had obviously gone shopping on several occasions and thought “Ohh, I need cornflour!” and bought some, not remembering that she had bought some already on other shopping trips, on several other shopping trips. We had a little laugh about it, she thought it was funny, and I asked her what she used it for, as I rarely did except if a particular recipe called for it. I was interested in how versatile she had found it, and one thing she made which I always enjoyed was her soup. So when I came home with more than several packets of cornflour, I did begin to think about using it more often.

However it’s only in the last couple of years since I’ve been at home, writing, and we have grown lots of vegetables, that I have begun to make soup more regularly… and although  I used always to be a useless soup maker, using grandma’s recipes with a little (just a little) cornflour, I now make lovely soups.

Cornflour is funny stuff, its called cornstarch in the Us, and when you mix it with a little water it goes all hard, and then suddenly goes runny… I looked it up and discovered that it is finely ground white starch  from maize kernels, which have been soaked and milled to separate the germ from the bran. It’s just about tasteless and is used to thicken things; unlike ordinary  flours, it mixes into a smooth cream when you add liquid. It’s curious characteristic is because it is a non-Newtonian fluid… I actually don’t know what that is but it is something to do with viscosity. Now I have learned that when cornflour is mixed with water is technically called an Oobleck… Hmmm, I see…. I think I can go no further with this, but at least I now know where cornflour comes from!