Tapioca Maltodextrin

[RocketChef]

What's the difference between tapioca maltodextrin and other maltodextrin.

Okay, finally got around to get holding of some of Zorbit's tapioca maltodextrin, and can confirm there's quite a difference. The corn stuff is far gummier, lacking the creamy meltiness of the tapioca one. Probably worth owning both, as I can see the gummy texture working better with some flavours.

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Can you give me a source for tapioca maltodextrin in the UK ? I can't find it anywhere!

Thanks in advance.

[Digijam]

Can you give me a source for tapioca maltodextrin in the UK ? I can't find it anywhere!

Thanks in advance.

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It's now available as part of the El Bulli Texturas range - with the name Malto - from all the usual European websites, but you can request a free sample of Zorbit directly from National Starch. They call it a sample, it's actually more like a lifetime's supply (about 20 times the amount in the Texturas tin).

[gfron1]

I'm bumping this topic as an extension to my search for malt ball texture.

I have my bag of TapMalt finally. I'm trying to make a chicklet sized after dinner mint that is pressed powder wrapped in a skin. The powder, I am thinking, will be basically chocolate mint ice cream with TapMalt. I'll use the proportions mentioned in this topic and report back. Any final advice or warnings?

Also, I'm assuming that when I had the powdered browned butter at Alinea, this is how they did it.

Thanks.

[BryanZ]

Alinea is currently doing bacon powder wrapped in a hard pineapple candy skin. I don't think the powdered brown butter is the same, however. The texture are different, if I recall.

[FerranHomaroHestonWylieGrant]

Can you give me a source for tapioca maltodextrin in the UK ? I can't find it anywhere!

Thanks in advance.

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It's now available as part of the El Bulli Texturas range - with the name Malto - from all the usual European websites, but you can request a free sample of Zorbit directly from National Starch. They call it a sample, it's actually more like a lifetime's supply (about 20 times the amount in the Texturas tin).

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How do you get it off them? And does milk work?

[sbb1979]

Go to the National Starch website as listed above. Find the N-Zorbit product and request a sample.

You should have it within a couple of days.

[sygyzy]

Hi everyone,

First post here. I planned a big dinner for my roommate's birthday on Saturday and planned on having mini baked potatoes with 3 small piles of butter, sour cream, and bacon powders. I spent a few hours in the afternoon trying to get them to work, but was just met with failure. I have the N-Zorbit version of the tapioca maltodextrin.

The first surprise I got was that this stuff weighs next to nothing. I measured out 120 grams of sour cream. Next, I tried to weigh out 80 grams of N-Zorbit only to find that after 2 cups, it still only weighed 10 grams. This stuff is light as air. I had to be careful not to breath it in. I tried using an immersion blender and all I could get was a smooth cream. Nothing solid and definitely not powder.

Next I tried bacon fat inside a blender with a large amount of N-Zorbit. This time I got little pieces that resembled soft dry dough. Again, no powder.

Any tips would be appreciated. I am excited about being here!

[Digijam]

The first surprise I got was that this stuff weighs next to nothing. I measured out 120 grams of sour cream. Next, I tried to weigh out 80 grams of N-Zorbit only to find that after 2 cups, it still only weighed 10 grams. This stuff is light as air. I had to be careful not to breath it in. I tried using an immersion blender and all I could get was a smooth cream. Nothing solid and definitely not powder.

Next I tried bacon fat inside a blender with a large amount of N-Zorbit. This time I got little pieces that resembled soft dry dough. Again, no powder.

Any tips would be appreciated. I am excited about being here!

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Sour cream is going to be a tough one, as it's more water than fat. Try sticking to oils, or mixes of oil and solids (peanut butter etc) and strongly flavoured ones at at. Sounds like you were almost there with the bacon fat. Just try pushing it through a fine mesh. If you're still not getting a fine powder, then stir in a bit more N-Zorbit and try again. And try starting with small quantities of oil - a little goes a long way.

[TheSwede]

For the sour cream, you could try pouring it thinly on a silpat or similar and drying it on low heat in the oven. Then break into pieces and mix in a blender to a powder. It probably has to be very dry for this to work.

But it might taste horribly after sitting on low heat in the oven for a couple of hours. I really have no idea!

[sygyzy]

What does the final texture resemble? From pictures I have seen, the pieces look fairly large and does not look entirely dry. Is it really powder like flour or is it more like wet clumps of sand?

[Tri2Cook]

It's a dry powder when I've done it (never attempted sour cream though). It will run through your fingers like very fine sand. It may look clumpy when mixed but a trip through a sieve solves that.

[Chris Amirault]

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Now back to the food -- and thanks!

[mkayahara]

Does anyone know how hygroscopic tapioca maltodextrin is? I was trying to make some olive oil powder the other day, which I figured would be easy, since it's pure oil. But the results were fairly gummy, and when I tried to pass it through a tamis, it collected on the underside and clumped again when I scraped it off. My supply of maltodextrin is pretty old (~1 year). I assume it's shelf-stable, but was wondering if it might have absorbed moisture from the air. Thanks!

[sygyzy]

I can't answer your question Matthew, but I think I read that it completely dissolves in water. I don't think it holds on to it. I know I've kept mine in its original plastic squarish container and I've had no problems with it.

Are you using a food processor and the 60/40 ratio? (I've found you can just eye it as the ratio is not very strict)

As an update to my previous post(s): I was successful in making Nutella powder. [Link]

Edited April 17, 2008 by sygyzy (log)

[mkayahara]

Are you using a food processor and the 60/40 ratio?  (I've found you can just eye it as the ratio is not very strict)

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Yes, I was using a mini food processor (about 2-cup capacity). I started off with a 60/40 ratio, but it just formed a paste, so I started adding more maltodextrin. At first I measured it out, but I had to keep adding more and more, and it was still clumping. I ended up adding so much that the final product was noticeably sweet.

[sygyzy]

I too use a mini food processor. You are using pure olive oil? Maybe you're right. Maybe it does have a shelf life, like Activa RM and Sodium Alginate. Maybe it "expired"

[dr_justice]

I have been playing with malto for a while. Did the Nutella, which turned out OK, and also Peanut butter.

But I could not get over the chemical taste of malto, especially on peant butter (yuk!). So, I left a glass with peanut butter soil in the freezer for about a week and a half, and I re-tasted it today. First, the soil, even at freezing temperature, did not freeze. It wasn't even cold. On taste, it appears that the nasty chemical taste is mostly gone.

Does anybody else have any tricks to remove the chemical taste of Zorbit in a preparation?

Finally, Texturas's web site has videos of nut cookies being made with heavy dose of zorbit. I can't imagine how they taste, surely elBulli wouldn't simply serve zorbit + nuts, that would just be nasty.

Anyone?

[zeph74]

I'm looking at picking up some Malto to play with.

Everywhere I read, its specifically named "Tapioca Maltodextrin". I've seen plain Maltodextrin in some health food shops, and HERE.

Whats the difference? Do I need to get only the Tapioca type or is the generic kind ok?

Thanks

[plandon]

I have just received my free sample of N-Zorbit Maltodextrin from National Starch (UK).

thanks to this forum for the tip!

It is an enormous bucket containing 1Kg, and it arrived by freight lorry in a gigantic box.

The literature with it says that it is available in 56lb sacks, 200Kg pallets or larger bulk quantities are available - hehe

My first attempt was to mix 1 tsp of black olive oil with 1 tsp Zorbit and gradually adding more and more until I had added 3 tsp of Zorbit.

The result was disappointing.

It became a brown paste and tasted slightly chemical.

Maybe my black oil had absorbed some water. I didn't robot coupe the paste nor pass through a tamis but it didn't look as if that would help.

Black Olive Oil

Destone black Kalamata olives (not the dyed black ones) by bashing with a saucepan and pick out the stones.

Dry in an oven at the lowest setting until stiff but not crisp (6 hours+)

Put in a blender and almost cover with good olive oil. Liquidise.

Pass through a very fine sieve - leave to drip a while and press with a spoon to get the most out.

[Jan Stoel]

National Starch has two other maltodextrines besides the N-Zorbit one.

One is a tapioca maltodextrin called INSTANT N-OIL® II. Instead of taking up fat it acts as a fat enhancer. The other is a maltodextrin called N-LITE® D. Does anybody have any knowledge (first hand experience) on these items?

[paulraphael]

National Starch has two other maltodextrines besides the N-Zorbit one.

One is a tapioca maltodextrin called INSTANT N-OIL® II. Instead of taking up fat it acts as a fat enhancer.

That's interesting, and suggests that n-zorbit might not be identical to generic tapioca maltodextrin.

There are a couple of other uses for n-zorbit. One is to keep powders powdered ... like when trying to make flour out of oily nuts. If you throw some zorbit in with peanuts before grinding them, you get peanut powder instead of peanut butter. Same with almonds, macadamia, etc...

It can also be used as a kind of super emulsion stabilizer--though technically this probably isn't an accurate description. For example, brown butter ice cream is difficult to make, because the butter fat cells have been damaged during the churning process. Butterfat emulsions are much less stable than cream emulsions, so ice cream with significant quantities of butter tend to "break" and get grainy. N-zorbit can be used to turn the brown butter into a solid ingredient, which disperses easily into the ice cream base. The result is smooth and stable, and the flavor release is excellent.

I'm sure there are other uses out there. Things like this interest me more than edible powders.

[tammylc]

Has anyone tried to powder mayonnaise? Does it work, or is there too much water content?

Edited April 19, 2010 by tammylc (log)

[Florida]

Made my first powder over the weekend. Made pepperoni powder using approx 3 tablespoons of rendered pepperoni fat with about ½ cup of tapioca maltodextrin. Mixed it together by hand than whirled it around in the food processor to lighten it up. It has a nice crumbly texture, but the pepperoni flavor is quite faint. Is it typical to “lose” flavor in the process?

[Tri2Cook]

Made my first powder over the weekend. Made pepperoni powder using approx 3 tablespoons of rendered pepperoni fat with about ½ cup of tapioca maltodextrin. Mixed it together by hand than whirled it around in the food processor to lighten it up. It has a nice crumbly texture, but the pepperoni flavor is quite faint. Is it typical to “lose” flavor in the process?

I've found it to be typical. I assume it's primarily due to the proportion required to get an actual powder. You're stretching the initial flavor base pretty far by the end. The more intense the flavor going in, the better the end result. But it's going to get a bit watered down regardless.

[cwfenn]

On October 31, 2007 at 9:20 AM, sbb1979 said:

Go to the National Starch website as listed above. Find the N-Zorbit product and request a sample.

You should have it within a couple of days.

An FYI - National Starch is now called "Ingredion".  They still do samples as well.  They provided me with maltodextrin and agar.  Plan on using it in home cooking and I'm going to use the agar in my microbiology class as well.  I wonder how many will want to eat something made with the same solidifying agent that is used to grow bacteria!

Edited May 25, 2016 by cwfenn (log)