Tapioca powder?

[ILBS]

Hi,

new to baking and trying out stuff for fun!

i bought tapioca powder from Bulk and Barns. I read that eating tapioca powder raw is poisonous.

so how do we prepare tapoica powder so we can use it in our recipes.

for example I would like to use sugar, tapoica and Cacao powder to make chocolate.
Is it safe to just use the tapoica powder right out of the bag or do I need to cook/prepare it before using ? If so how do we prepare topics powder ?

thanks

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi,

new to baking and trying out stuff for fun!

i bought tapioca powder from Bulk and Barns. I read that eating tapioca powder raw is poisonous.

so how do we prepare tapoica powder so we can use it in our recipes.

for example I would like to use sugar, tapoica and Cacao powder to make chocolate.
Is it safe to just use the tapoica powder right out of the bag or do I need to cook/prepare it before using ? If so how do we prepare topics powder ?

thanks

Tapioca is not toxic. But tapioca is a thickener. It isn’t used to make chocolate or cocoa.

It's used all the time in mixes as a thickener, especially for gluten-free mixes and in gluten free baked goods.

It’s used as a thickener for fillings. it’s my standard thickener for fruit pie fillings.

You don’t have to cook in advance.


If you are using cocoa powder, know that it is highly hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs an extraordinary amount of liquid. tapioca powder is also highly hygroscopic so if you use both and add any liquid, you will have a lump of gunk

 

[ILBS]

Hi
Thanks for replying …

Well I add butter and honey to my melted/tempered chocolate and I’m trying to thicken it because it doesn’t harden ‍.

When I googled can you eat tapioca powder raw I get that it’s poisonous see my attachment .

‍

Confused

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi
Thanks for replying …

Well I add butter and honey to my melted/tempered chocolate and I’m trying to thicken it because it doesn’t harden ‍.

When I googled can you eat tapioca powder raw I get that it’s poisonous see my attachment .

‍

Confused

I do not know what this article states because you didn’t attach a link, you attached a screenshot.

Are they talking about sticking a spoon in the bag and eating it straight out of the bag?

I used tapioca starch all the time. I use it in cakes, cookies, piecrust, pancake, mix, pie filling.

Tapioca starch is added in commercial mixes all the time. Tapioca starch is used in commercial baking all the time. I have two types of Schar brand gluten free crackers in my pantry right now, both contain tapioca starch.

I’m Asian. Walking into any Asian market and there’s a ton of tapioca starch for sale





But adding tapioca to chocolate is not going to harden it. Adding animal fat butter to your chocolate, will always keep it from hardening.




How to temper with honey

Ask the Alchemist #216

You’re real issue is you just don’t know how to work with chocolate

 

[ILBS]

I do not know what this article states because you didn’t attach a link, you attached a screenshot.

Are they talking about sticking a spoon in the bag and eating it straight out of the bag?

I used tapioca starch all the time. I use it in cakes, cookies, piecrust, pancake, mix, pie filling.

Tapioca starch is added in commercial mixes all the time. Tapioca starch is used in commercial baking all the time. I have two types of Schar brand gluten free crackers in my pantry right now, both contain tapioca starch.

I’m Asian. Walking into any Asian market and there’s a ton of tapioca starch for sale





But adding tapioca to chocolate is not going to harden it. Adding animal fat butter to your chocolate, will always keep it from hardening.




How to temper with honey

Ask the Alchemist #216

You’re real issue is you just don’t know how to work with chocolate

Well, yes but after you add your Tapoica, then you bake it in the oven right ? I am making candies and I want to add Tapoica as it is in the melted sugar!

here’s what you get when you Google
“ can you eat Tapoica flour raw”

you get this:

Tapioca is poisonous when raw, but perfectly safe to eat and very nutritious when fully cooked or processed. Most tapioca starch currently on the market is safely made in factories and presents no risk of poisoning.
=====

so do I have to treat tapoica before O just use it right out of the box????

 

[Norcalbaker59]

This video demonstrates the characteristics of different starches used in food service for thickerners. Tapioca is at 4:07.

As you can see all starches thicken, but they do not harden. adding a starch to chocolate will never harden it.

Not only that I didn’t start interferes with tempering. Tempering is the crystallization of the various fatty acids in the cocoa butter. The different fatty acids resolidify at different temperatures. in order for the chocolate to temper, the fatty acid molecules must be properly aligned. Think of it like Lego blocks; they must fit together perfectly in order to get a perfect tempered chocolate. This is why you cannot like animal, fat butter, starches, cream, etc to chocolate and have it temper.

As an aside, you also need to understand starches; starch gelatinization must occur for thickening. But when this occurs, it is temporary. It reverses itself in some thing called starch retrogradation. This happens to all starches, it doesn’t matter what you add it to, what's it's in. it’s the starch that’s naturally in wheat that causes bread to go stale. It's the starch that's added to a custard pie that then makes the pie weep after a day or so. It’all starches no matter if it’s naturally occurring in the grain or it’s a starch that is added to a recipe.

When there is starch, moisture, and heat, there is going to be starch gelatinization, followed by starch retrogradation.


Starch gelatinization

Starch retrogradation

This is why I said the issue your not understanding how to work with chocolate. You need to know the science of chocolate and the ingredients you’re working with.

It’s not a criticism. The problem isn’t your chocolate isn’t hardening. The problem is you need to expand your knowledge of chocolate.

 

[ILBS]

Hi Norcalbaker,

Sorry so much for the delay !

Thank you so much for your support really kind of you!

Ok as for Tapioca flour/starch, Im getting different sides to the story. Some say you have to cook it before you use it and some say no ??

Let me ask you, when you use tapioca for your fillings, you use it and then you cook your food with the tapioca filling inside right?

Although a little different then what I explained earlier, I'm talking about taking raw Tapioca starch flour and adding it to a cold cream mixture to thicken it and then using that filling (with the added tapioca flour) and using it as a chocolate center. Now in this case everything is raw, Im not cooking anything ! And so in this case is the tapioca dangerous?

Thanks