Plot thickening as cornflour wins last-minute supermarket reprieve

TUCKED away in the back of almost every larder in the country lies a crucial, often under-appreciated ingredient long seen as a staple of traditional British cooking.

Used for everything from thickening Sunday roast gravies to making shortbread biscuits light and crumbly, cornflour was, and is, a necessity for most home cooks.

But now, there are fears that it could disappear from supermarket shelves forever after Tesco announced it was no longer selling the product as a result of “low customer demand”. The revelation came after one unhappy customer asked on Twitter why it was no longer stocking the product.

A spokesman for the supermarket responded: “Cornflour has been discontinued because of low customer demand, I’m afraid.”

This prompted outrage on Mumsnet, the internet forum, with users saying that although they rarely bought it more than twice a year, it was an essential part of their larder.

When asked to clarify whether this remark may be the case, Tesco said it had not completely de-listed cornflour and would attempt to improve availability in its stores.

Cornflour is primarily used as a thickening agent in liquid based foods such as soups, gravies, casseroles, stews and custards. Its fine texture means it is less likely to form in lumps than ordinary flour and has the added benefit of being gluten-free. Another advantage cornflour has over plain flour, as a thickening agent, is that it is flavourless so can be used to thicken delicate dishes. It can also be used when baking sweet treats, such as shortbread as it helps give it a light texture and a “melt in the mouth” quality.

In stir-fries, a dusting of cornflour can also stop thinly sliced protein, such as meat overcooking, while simultaneously turning the liquids into a sauce. It can also be used to add crispiness to meat dishes, such as fried chicken.

Cornflour is made by removing the skin and germ from the corn, then extracting the starchy liquid, which is dried and finely ground.

Thomas Kingsford, an American inventor and baker, produced “cornstarch” in 1842 when he discovered a way to isolate tissue from corn kernels while working in a wheat starch factory in New Jersey.

However, he didn’t have food in mind when he did it – for the first few years of its existence, cornstarch was used to starch laundry.

Then, in Paisley, in 1854, in the lowlands of Scotland, John Polson’s company, which previously manufactured muslin, produced pure culinary starch from maize. Brown & Polson began producing starch and cornflour in the 1860s and became the largest manufacturer of starch products in Britain, for which it was granted a Royal Warrant.

Cornflour is also found in items such as baby powder, medical gloves, airbags and adhesives.