Tärklisest

Tärklisest is an Estonian term that appears as the elative case of the noun tärklis, meaning starch. In linguistic use it marks material from which something is made or derived, for example tärklisest valmistatud tooted (products made from starch). The form is part of standard Estonian grammar and can occur in scientific, culinary, and industrial contexts.

Starch, or tärklis, is a carbohydrate storage polysaccharide found in many plants. The main food sources are potatoes, maize (corn), wheat, and rice, along with tubers and roots such as cassava. It consists largely of two polymers, amylose and amylopectin. Native starch forms a white powder that swells and gelatinizes when heated with water, producing thickening and texture changes.

Starch is produced commercially by grinding plant tissue to release starch granules into a water slurry, then separating and drying the starch. It can be used in its native form or modified to improve properties such as heat and acid stability, viscosity, or film-forming ability. Common modifications include cross-linking, substitution, and pre-gelatinization.

Applications span food and non-food sectors. In food, starch acts as a thickener, binder, or texture enhancer in sauces, soups, and baked goods. In industry, it is used in adhesives, paper and textile processing, and as a base for biodegradable plastics and ethanol production.

Nutritionally, starch provides energy as digestible carbohydrates. Some starches resist digestion (resistant starch) and function as dietary fiber. Most starch sources are gluten-free when considering cross-contamination; wheat-derived starch may carry gluten.

The Estonian word tärklis is borrowed from German Stärke; tärklisest, as the elative form, denotes material from starch or a starch-based origin.