Tapioca starch is used to thicken gravies, and puddings, and the fillings for some pies. It is derived from the cassava plant and generally it is gotten from the roots of this plant. Unlike corn starch, tapioca starch can have a very bitter flavor and may need to be put into foods that will be sweetened with brown sugar so the bitterness is masked.

Brown sugar is an unrefined sugar that is used in many different dessert recipes. You could not make baked beans if you did not have brown sugar or molasses to sweeten those beans. Cookies like peanut butter cookies and the dough for chocolate chip cookies require light brown sugar and white granulated sugar both for the recipe to turn out correctly. It is also a frequent ingredient when people are making desserts from tapioca starch like the delicious pudding that contains the pearls of tapioca.

Tapioca starch is commonly gotten from the roots of the cassava plant that has the reddish colored leaves. There is another cassava plant that has green leaves that the starch can be gotten from but the roots contain a toxic substance and this toxin must be properly extracted from them before they can be used for food production. The plants with the reddish leaves also contain the toxin but in smaller quantities so they are more frequently used to get the starch than the ones with the green leaves are.

Corn starch is used to thicken things like gravies and stews in the United States. Of course corn starch is gotten from the corn plant. If you have ever husked an ear of corn and cut it from the cob then you undoubtedly saw the whitish liquid that was emitted from the kernels of the ear. This white liquid is cornstarch in its raw or liquid form. Corn and potatoes are the two starchiest of the vegetables and this is evident when you handle them because they leave a sticky residue on your hands and on the implements you use to cut them.

There are many recipes that call for the use of thickening agents, and sometimes you have to use them just because gravy or a sauce did not turn out as thick as you would have liked. When you are using tapioca starch you will first need to soak it in some water and when you are using cornstarch as a thickening agent you will need to place the powder substance into a container first and then add the liquid. Stir this mixture until it becomes a thickened paste and then pour it into the gravy or pudding you are preparing. Be careful when adding things like this because if you put too much in then your dish will become too thick and be ruined and it will have an odd flavor. It is better to use too little at first because you can always add more but you cannot take any out once it is in there.

Corn starch http://www.thc.com.my and tapioca starch http://www.thc.com.my are both items that are used to make filling for pies and pudding thicker. Brown sugar http://www.thc.com.my is used to sweeten the dish and hide the bitter flavor of the starches.