Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)

Need to make a custard thick, quick? Arrowroot is the ingredient for you!

Native to Guyana and western Brazil, the creeping rootstalk tubers are perfect for cultivating thicker textures in sauces, soups and so on. The Arrow-shaped Arrowroot rhizome is harvested for its low-temperature friendly starch and can also be boiled down alone to create a jelly. Its roots are peeled and grated into water where it’s dried after several rinses and made into a powder flour. It takes a bit of patience to grow, requiring up to 12 months of humid weather to squeeze as much starch as it can, but it’s worth the wait! Arrowroot has been growing in use because of its easy to digest characteristics.