
Tapioca flour
Tapioca flour is made from the root of the cassava plant, a shrub native to South America ( cassava is known as tapioca). The cassava root is very starchy, but gluten-free. The root can be processed into tapioca pearls, tapioca sticks, tapioca flakes, and tapioca flour.
Tapioca flour is one of the most popular thickeners, and rightly so. It thickens at a low temperature and retains its consistency when frozen, making it easy to use in many recipes. Tapioca flour thickens so quickly that it can sometimes be used to correct the thickness of sauces right before serving!
When used as a thickener, tapioca flour becomes a clear, glossy gel - the perfect sheen for your dish. It is starchy and chewy, with a neutral taste that won't compete with the other flavors in a recipe. Because our tapioca flour is a fine powder, it will dissolve with a uniform consistency, unlike tapioca pearls.
Tapioca flour can be used to thicken muffins, cake, pancakes, soups, sauces, gravy, and puddings. It can be added as a sweetener to breads made with rice and millet flour, or used as a substitute for other thickeners, like cornstarch. One especially popular use of tapioca flour is for making pie fillings.