Spices

Kudzu Starch Extract

Pueraria thomsonii

Kudzu (sắn dây) is a climbing vine that can run ten metres, with faintly hairy stems, compound leaves of three lobed leaflets, greenish flowers in clusters at the leaf axils, and long hairy pods. It grows wild through the forested hills of Vietnam, but it is the cultivated plant, raised almost everywhere for its roots, that is dug and worked. From late October until March or April the swollen roots are lifted, washed and stripped of their papery skin; to make the starch they are pounded, and the starch is settled out and filtered again and again before being dried. The fine white powder is stirred into water to drink.