Starch of the rhizome.
It has been more or less established that arrowroot is a nourishing diet without any side effects. It is prescribed for some disorders as well as patients recuperating from fevers, inflammations in the digestive tract, the respiratory organs of the body and even the urinary tract. Moreover, arrowroot is also an effective substitute for breast feeding in infants and may be given to children for a brief period after they have been taken off breast milk. Arrowroot may be administered as jelly seasoned with sugar, concentrates, lemon juice and even scents. Although people sometimes substitute arrowroot with potato starch, the latter is likely to cause tartness in the digestive system. It may be mentioned here that barring tapioca and tous-les-mois, arrowroot is much advanced in than any other starchy food available. Though the arrowroot jelly does not have any special taste, it is less likely to cause tartness in the stomach and is normally liked by the infants in comparison to other similar foodstuff. Only tous-les-mois and tapioca jelly are tauter. Normally, two to three drachms (liquid gram) are boiled in a pint (0.568 liter) of water or milk and seasoned according to preference before consumption. Consuming more than this quantity of arrowroot is not advisable. As mentioned earlier, herbal medical practitioners in several countries use pounded arrowroot rhizomes as poultice to heal disorders such as abrasions from venomous arrows, black spider and scorpion stings as well as to contain gangrene or decay and death of body tissues. At the same time, freshly extracted arrowroot rhizome juice mixed with water may be administered internally as a remedy for toxicities owing to vegetables like Savanna.
The arrowroot plant is basically indigenous to the West Indies as well as tropical America. It found in abundance in the stretch from southern Mexico to Brazil. Later, the plant was brought to south-east Asia, India as well as several tropical African nations where it is grown commercially, but on a small scale.
Arrowroot starch encloses the chemicals that are present in wheat and potato starch, but makes a more solid jelly by adding equal amount of boiling water to it. In effect, nine parts of arrowroot starch is considered to be equivalent to 14 parts of any other starch commonly available. Chemical analysis has demonstrated that the arrowroot tuber encloses 63 per cent water and 27 per cent starch, 4.10 per cent sugar and gum, 2.82 per cent fiber, 1.56 per cent albumen, 1.23 per cent ash and 0.26 per cent fat. Further analysis has confirmed that the arrowroot starch includes 83.70 per cent starch and 15.87 per cent water. It is worthwhile mentioning here that in the West Indies, arrowroot starch is often made impure by adding wheat, potato or starches derived from sago and tapioca. However, one may easily verify the purity of the arrowroot starch by following the directives published by the German Pharmacopoeia in 1872. The German Pharmacopoeia has suggested that when one part of arrowroot starch is stirred for about 10 minutes with 10 parts of a concoction comprising two parts of hydrochloric acid and one part of water, the larger portion of the arrowroot powder should separate being constant. At the same time, the arrowroot powder should not produce mucilage or give up shrub-like smell similar to the green and immature bean pods. If the marketer is trying to substitute arrowroot starch with potato starch, one would notice that the procedure will result to a dense, but nearly transparent jelly that will resemble a robust and bon-woody smell that is much like beans and can be identified without any difficulty.
The comfrey face mask is also meant for all skin types and the ingredients required to prepare this recipe at home include:
