what is cornstarch and what does it do to you?

Answer 1

Ground up corn with out the hull! (the inside of the kernel only)

We use it for cooking! It can be used to starch clothing and people have found many other uses for it.

Answer 2

Cornstarch is mainly used in cooking, mainly to thicken sauces or gravies. There is a medical use for cornstarch, when you get a cut and you start to bleed, put some cornstarch on it, it will help the blood to clot, especially if your immune system is not that fast reacting. Cornstarch can also be replaced with flour to help blood clot.

Answer 3

Cornstarch, or cornflour, is the starch of the maize grain, commonly known as corn.It is also ground from the endosperm, or white heart, of the corn kernel. It has a distinctive appearance and feel when mixed raw with water or milk, giving easily to gentle pressure but resisting sudden pressure. It is usually included as an anti-caking agent in powdered sugar (10X or confectioner's sugar). For this reason, recipes calling for powdered sugar often call for at least light cooking to remove the raw cornstarch taste.

Cornstarch is often used as a binder in puddings and similar foods. Most of the packaged pudding mixes available in grocery stores include cornstarch. Cornstarch puddings may be easily made at home, benefitting from the use of a double boiler. The most basic such pudding may be made only from milk, sugar, cornstarch and a flavoring agent.

It is also used as a thickener in many Chinese recipes and French sauces, although in the latter case it is generally used as a time-saver to replace more traditional, time-consuming methods.

Cornstarch also has many uses in the manufacturing of environmentally-friendly products. For example, in 2004, the Japanese company Pioneer announced a biodegradable Blu-Ray disc made out of cornstarch.

Cornstarch has been used as a replacement for talcum powder by some.1

A mixture of 1 parts water to 1.5–2 parts cornstarch (sometimes called oobleck) is a popular classroom demonstration of a dilatant (shear-thickening) fluid. When struck, cut with a knife, or worked vigorously in the hands, it behaves like a pliable solid, but if allowed to sit for a few seconds, it flows as a viscous liquid.

Answer 4

I think its just a dried starch derived from corn or cornstalks. I don't know if it does anything TO you per se, but it's used in cooking a lot as a thickening agent. When the starch gets added to heat, the molecules expand and make what was once a liquid (for example) into a more gelatinous consistency.

Answer 5

Cornstarch makes a great, all natural baby powder. We used it on all our kids while they wore diapers. It kept their little hieneys shiny and rash free.

Answer 6

nothing,its used to thick up gravy ect.