Why Isn't Potato Flour More Popular?

[j.]

Why do so few people use potato flour, while so many use wheat flour?

 

[Suikerbuik]

The gluten. However cakes or cupcakes with mostly potato starch are best!

 

[jyb]

Ah, good question. I assume it's because wheat based cakes are easier to produce and preserve. Aesthetics and texture is very important for a store product. Maybe it would cost more too.

 

[Milklove]

Why do so few people use potato flour, while so many use wheat flour?

Do you know how a cookie made with potato flour tastes?

 

[j.]

In the comments section of the potato starch product at iHerb, some were praising the effects of its resistant starch on the gut.

 

[pboy]

a good question. Why do people eat wheat at all? Why did they ever? A lot of times people did less than optimum things to survive in certain situations, or were forced to do certain things for purposely devious purposes (like conquerors forcing inca to grow only corn, trying to eliminate many of their other food crops entirely), sometimes people are starving, sometimes the rich promote things to common people but is really just a back up plan for themselves or because they don't want competition with the good stuff...who knows. That's why we should analyze everything as if there was no such thing as history, and everything we do or the way we live might not even be the best way, or even close...everything needs to be re personally analyzed, so many things are weird and don't make sense and we don't know how they became the norm at one time in history, it might not have been for the best of the other people. Potato is way more nutritious than wheat, but wheat preserves longer and has less potential to be acutely poisonous...like potatoes not stored well can be highly poisonous. With modern technology and knowledge though, its a pretty clear choice as to which is better, but new things often don't reach everyone or they take a long time...and by the time they do, things could change, and something else could be better. People generally just do what they always have, like produce wheat as a business, and as long as people keep buying and eating it they'll keep growing and selling it. I can see why people may have grown it in the past, but it would be at most like a side item when better food wasn't available...not a mainstay staple by any means

 

[jyb]

a good question. Why do people eat wheat at all? Why did they ever?

It tastes good and is highly convenient. Also perceived as healthy (well, used to be).

 

[pboy]

that's probably why people still prefer it over potato flour, to mention the topic, because some people still consider it convenient, healthier than a white potato or kind of the same, and think it tastes alright. They aren't actually aware of any of the details we are and don't actually care. They more associate wheat with flour and baking and breading, where as a potato is more for mashing and grilling, frying or whatever. No one cooks whole wheat berries..i doubt many people even know what a wheat berry is. Basically, people just do what they've seen be done before and if it isn't really bad they keep doing it. Perhaps 1% or less, probably less, of people actually have the capacity co create new things, start new things, promote and put it out that they are doing something new...and if they are clearly succeeding in some way other people then might try to mimick them. Even if what they say is true and would be better, if they don't demonstrate obvious success, people will ignore all the facts...they don't even really look at them

I realize this now if I ever did have something new and innovative I wanted to share, I would make sure I demonstrated some kind of 'successful quality' or whatever before unveiling the knowledge, even thought its complete bs, tangible proof is proof, but that's what it seems to take for most people to start doing something new. They have to want what the other person has, in most areas of life, or they don't consider the details of what they say as important

 

[mt_dreams]

Keep in mind that potato starch is raw starch, while potato flour has been pre-cooked in the drying process. All the iherb reviews for potato starch are from the people that have jumped on board of the resistant starch bandwagon. I guess after the success of probiotics, it was only natural for prebiotics to become the next big thing.

My friend who is a cookieholic makes cookie dough with potato & tapioca flour which is almost identical to wheat cookies as there is not much rise in cookies. The biggest difference is when trying to make bread, as the loaf does not rise as much, and is much more dense. I have a high quality bakery near me that makes both potato loafs, & white/white sourdough done the traditional way, and there's a big difference b/w them.

traditional bread prepared the proper way was a nutrient powerhouse for may who could not afford high class food, or had to deal with cold winters. Now days we have better options, but this was not always the case.

 

[j.]

I have a high quality bakery near me that makes both potato loafs, & white/white sourdough done the traditional way, and there's a big difference b/w them.

Which country is this?

 

[kiran]

The Potato is relatively new outside of South America. It was brought to Europe in the 16th century and spread from there to Asia, Africa etc. Wheat (and rice) have a much longer history. Bread especially has a looong history, and it's hard to change people's habits.

 

[j.]

The potato is used in south america, but the potato flour I don't think you're likely to find in stores.

 

[freal]

Potato flour, I have never seen that in stores. Arent potato flakes, that what is sold for instant mashed potatotes the same thing, if you just blend it in a blender? But they have sulfites in it.

 

[pboy]

I think with the new gluten free idea going around there are more potato flour than there used to be...theres always been potato starch for thickening soup, but now there is actually flour (a bit different than flakes, the flakes are partially precooked where as the flour is just dehydrated). Its probably still kind of rare, perhaps more in health stores

they are relatively new to Europeans and the rest of the world actually...people initially thought they were poisonous as well so it took time for them to become mainstream (except for Ireland). They were viewed more as a vegetable or addition to stew rather than a main source of calories. Fast food might have even helped play a factor (and potato chips) in making their consumption go way up

 

[mt_dreams]

Which country is this?

Toronto Canada. lots of options as it's very multicultural. I've got Italian, Jewish specialty bakeries, along with the Mennonites working in the area as options.

 

[SQu]

Experimenting with gluten free flour alternatives in baking quickly made me appreciate why wheat flour is king. It's very hard to get anything like the same results. I never could. Always disappointing.

 

[tinkerer]

I first tried potato starch (not to be confused with potato flour, as was pointed out) when it wasn't at all popular and was being villified by LCers. There was no bandwagon to join. :) Potato starch is what led me to read more of Ray Peat's writings, because it gave me close to the results that Ray Peat said people should shoot for (and mung bean starch did so even more), so I became more curious about the details behind why this should be and why the health marker targets that Ray advocates are indeed good. I like how both Ray Peat and potato starch confound most of the other "experts"/gurus.

 

[jyb]

I first tried potato starch (not to be confused with potato flour, as was pointed out) when it wasn't at all popular and was being villified by LCers. There was no bandwagon to join. :) Potato starch is what led me to read more of Ray Peat's writings, because it gave me the results that Ray Peat said people should shoot for (and mung bean starch did so even more), so I became more curious about the details behind why this should be and why the health marker targets that Ray advocates are good. I like how both Ray Peat and potato starch confound most of the other "experts"/gurus.

Do you mean potato juice extract?

Edit: No, you must mean something else but not sure what.

 

[tinkerer]

No, I mean uncooked, unmodified potato starch, such as the Bob's Red Mill brand, though that's not the brand I currently buy.

http://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-starch.html

Ray doesn't recommend potato starch, but it brought me closer to the body temperature and resting heart rate that he advocates than anything I had tried previously (and I once saw him quoted as saying that whatever gets you there is what he recommends, so indirectly, and ironically, it could apparently be considered Peatarian), and it also provided me with other benefits, like improved blood glucose, energy and sleep quality.

If I hadn't read some of Ray's writings, I might have thought that the increased RHR and body temps that I experienced from PS were a bad sign. Thanks to Ray, Danny Roddy and Broda Barnes, and the way I felt (great), I strongly suspected that they were instead good signs.

I hope this positive report doesn't upset anyone. I like Ray Peat quite a bit and enjoy his writings and interviews, and I independently came to several of the same conclusions/hypotheses that he did, which is another thing that interested me in his work.

Seemingly paradoxically to some on the surface, perhaps, I also like that Ray is anti-prebiotics, because I consider intelligent, informed people who have a different view on something to be very valuable. If there's anything seriously wrong with resistant starch, someone like Ray will likely be one of the first to spot it. I'm certainly keeping my eye open for any long-term problems, and I don't go overboard like some folks do.

 

[jyb]

No, I mean uncooked, unmodified potato starch, such as the Bob's Red Mill brand, though that's not the brand I currently buy.

Just curious, how did you get the idea and how do you use it for cooking?