Arrow Root

Botanical Source

-

This plant has a perennial rhizome, which is fibrous, producing numerous fusiform, fleshy, scaly, pendulous tubers from its crown. The stems are 2 or 3 feet high, much branched, slender, finely hairy, and tumid at the joints. The leaves are alternate with long, leafy, hairy sheaths, slightly hairy underneath and pale-green on both sides. The flowers are white and disposed in a long, lax, spreading, terminal panicle with long, linear, sheathing bracts at the ramifications. The calyx is green and smooth. The corolla being white, small and unequal, with one of the inner segments in the form of a lip. The ovary is 3-celled and hairy. The fruit is nearly globular, with 3 obsolete angles and is the size of a small currant.

-

Description

-

This plant was originally from the West Indies. It has been introduced to several parts of the world, in warm latitudes and moist climates, where it is extensively cultivated. It has also been raised in South Carolina and Georgia. The plant is developed by planting portions of the root-stock, which gradually increases in size, and throws out leaves, which wither when the plant is mature. Arrow-root is prepared from the root when nearly a year old. The tubers are washed, then beaten in large, deep vessels to form a pulp. This is well stirred in clean water, the fibrous parts being separated by hand and thrown away. The milky liquor, which holds the starch in suspension, is passed through a fine sieve. The starch is allowed to subside then the supernatant clear fluid is poured off. The starch is again washed in clean water, drained and then dried on sheets in the sun.

-

Action and Medical Uses

-

Arrow-root is nutritive. It is used as an agreeable, non-irritating diet in certain chronic diseases, during convalescence from fevers and  in irritations of the alimentary canal, pulmonary organs, or the urinary apparatus. It is well suited for infants to supply the place of breast-milk, or for a short time after having weaned them. It may be given in the form of jelly, variously seasoned with sugar, lemon-juice, fruit jellies, essences, or aromatics. Potato starch is sometimes substituted for it, but it is more apt to cause acidity. Arrow-root is superior to every other kind of farinaceous food, except tapioca and tous-les-mois. Its jelly has no peculiar taste and is less liable to become acid in the stomach. It is generally preferred by young infants to all others, except tapioca. Two or 3 drachms of arrow-root may be boiled in a pint of water or milk, and seasoned as desired.

Arrow root is found in the following products:

ANDRO-VITO

EREXUS

LOVE FIRE