Starch is an amazing product that can be found in almost every home.
Its uses extend far beyond cooking.
This versatile ingredient can solve many everyday problems that many people don’t even know about.
Starch in house cleaning
Starch is a great cleaning aid. It can be used to clean carpets and upholstered furniture.
It is enough to sprinkle the contaminated surface with starch, leave for 30 minutes, and then vacuum.
This method effectively removes greasy stains and refreshes the fabric. In addition, starch helps to get rid of unpleasant odors in shoes.
It is enough to sprinkle a little starch inside the shoes at night and shake it out in the morning. The shoes will become fresh and smell nice.
Application in washing and ironing
Starch can also be useful during the washing process. Adding a small amount of starch to the water when rinsing the laundry gives it extra freshness and makes ironing easier.
To iron lace items or shirt collars, you can prepare a starch solution: dilute a tablespoon of starch in a glass of cold water, then add boiling water until you get the desired consistency.
This solution is used to wet the fabric before ironing, which gives it rigidity and a neat appearance.
Starch in cooking
In cooking, starch is irreplaceable not only as a thickener for sauces and jellies. It can be used to give a crispy crust to fried foods.
It is enough to roll pieces of meat or fish in starch before frying. Starch also helps to make baked goods more tender and crumbly.
Replacing a small amount of flour with cornstarch in a cookie or biscuit recipe will greatly improve the texture.
Application in creativity and handicrafts
Starch also finds use in creative projects. You can make homemade play dough from it by mixing it with water, salt and food coloring.
This plasticine is absolutely safe for children and can be easily washed off surfaces.
In handicrafts, starch paste is used for starching lace and giving rigidity to various decorative elements.
Starch in gardening
Gardeners have also found a use for starch. It can be used to combat ants in garden beds.
A mixture of starch and powdered sugar scattered along ant trails attracts insects, but is not digested by them, which leads to the death of the colony.
In addition, starch can serve as an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pest control products for plants.
