Uses of Starch 



sugar, really owe their sweet taste to glucose, 

 which is much cheaper. The potato plays 

 many parts besides that of a table vegetable. 



And this is not all ; for starch sugar is 

 exactly the same as that of ripe grapes. 

 With potato flour, water, and a few drops of 

 oil of vitriol, the manufacturer, with his 

 enormous boilers, obtains the same sweet 

 substance that the grape produces in its 

 berries in the sunlight. Now grape sugar 

 becomes alcohol by fermentation, and starch 

 sugar must experience a similar change. In 

 northern countries, where the climate does not 

 admit of the culture of the vine, alcoholic drinks 

 are prepared with starch converted into sugar. 

 Because of their origin these drinks are called 

 potato brandy, but all seeds and roots that 

 abound in starch may be used for a like purpose. 



Beer results from a similar conversion. 

 Barley is made to germinate by keeping it 

 rather damp in a gentle heat. During the 

 process of germination the starch is converted 

 to glucose in order to feed the new growth. 

 When the little plant begins to break through, 

 the grain is dried and reduced to flour. 

 When this is diluted in water it provides 

 a sweet liquid which, by fermenting, acquires 

 alcohol and finally becomes beer. 



