The best flour to use as a thickener is all-purpose flour because it’s higher in starch than other wheat flours. Cornstarch is a pure starch derived from corn. It can withstand a good amount of cooking and stirring before it begins to break down.

66 Types of Thickening Agents.

Here is a list of the most common starch and gum food thickeners.

• Wheat Flour. Wheat flour is the thickening agent to make a roux.
• Cornstarch. The corn endosperm is ground, washed, dried to a fine powder.
• Arrowroot.
• Tapioca Starch.
• Xanthan Gum.

Here are the results:

1. Irish Moss Seaweed, Best Thickener!
2. Agar agar – Second Prize goes to Agar.
3. Arrowroot – Third prize!
4. Kudzu – An excellent thickener.
5. Chia Seeds – An excellent thickener.
6. Flaxseed Meal – Very good, viscous holding power.
7. Potato Starch – A good thickener.
8. Cornstarch – A good thickener.

A food thickener is a thickening agent that increases the viscosity of a liquid mix without interfering with its other properties. Knowing how to thicken food is essential for preparing many recipes; most sauces, gravies, soups, and even desserts are thickened with some kind of starch.

Top 15 Natural Thickening Agents & Sauce Thickeners

1. 1Flour. Flour is probably the most well known cooking and baking thickener.
2. 2Cornstarch. If you’re looking for a pure starch, cornstarch is the most popular choice.
3. 3Tapioca Starch.
4. 4Potato Starch.
5. 5Arrowroot Starch.
6. 6Guar Gum.
7. 7Gelatin.
8. 8Psyllium Husk.

Examples of thickening agents include: polysaccharides (starches, vegetable gums, and pectin), proteins (eggs, collagen, gelatin, blood albumin) and fats (butter, oil and lards). All purpose flour is the most popular food thickener, followed by cornstarch and arrowroot or tapioca.

To create a denser liquid or mixture by either adding a thickening agent or by boiling to reduce the existing volume of liquid. Flour is one of the most often used thickening agents when cooking foods such as sauces, gravies, soups, stews, and gumbos.

All natural, aqueous-based polymeric thickeners are derived from polysaccharides with the most common being sourced from cellulose (wood, cotton) and starch (corn, potato). Other important polysaccharide sources include seaweed, plant seeds/roots, and those derived from fermentation.

Food Thickening Agents

• All purpose flour is the most popular food thickener, followed by cornstarch and arrowroot or tapioca.
• Cornstarch — Cornstarch is actually a flour.
• Potato starch — Potato starch is not potato flour.

thickening agent
A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their taste; thickeners are also used in paints, inks, explosives, and cosmetics.

Your Essential List of Food Thickeners and How to Use Them. 1 All-Purpose Flour. Flour is a very stable thickener that doesn’t need high temperatures to thicken and can withstand prolonged cooking. However, you 2 Cornstarch. 3 Potato Starch. 4 Arrowroot. 5 Tapioca Flour.

Although flour is the traditional thickening agent in French cooking, cornstarch is a more powerful thickener because it is a purer form of starch. It will also create a clearer, shinier sauce. Starch thickeners give food a transparent, glistening sheen, which looks nice in a pie filling, but a bit artificial in a gravy or sauce.

Like cornstarch, you have to dissolve the potato starch in a little bit of water before adding it as a thickener. Many people especially prefer starch made from potatoes or corn when thickening sauces because it can help the sauces remain translucent; whereas flour creates a more cloudied appearing sauce.

Gum-based powder thickeners will hold their initial consistency over time. Gel thickeners will hold the initial consistency over time. Pre-thickened drinks will not change consistency but they will be slightly thicker when chilled vs. at room temperature.