Cornflour?

[judydawn]

Thanks andie.  I read where it prevents ice crystals forming in ice-cream but then further down it says it doesn't mix well with dairy so that quickly put an end to my thoughts about using it for custard frozen for ice-cream??!!

[Deeau]

Slightly off topic BUT ...from one of andiesenji links 

Here's my favorite arrowroot tip of all: When you make homemade ice cream, sprinkle a little arrowroot powder into the ice cream mix. If you have any leftover ice cream that you plan to store in the freezer, this will prevent ice crystals from forming in it. Neat!

I don't have an icecream machine but have made TM icecream just by freezing and then reblending....would adding arrowroot  help stop the icey as opposed to creamy texture I get

[wombat]

Just a quick question.....have always purchased the corn cornflour, not the wheaten cornflour and it has always worked great. Just bought some organic cornflour which was called polenta and was yellow.  I made the usual custard in my thermie and it came out really gluggy (inedible) from obviously too much organic cornflour!!!! Is this like arrowroot too where you have to halve the quantity compared to normal store bought (corn)cornflour.

[andiesenji]

Just a quick question.....have always purchased the corn cornflour, not the wheaten cornflour and it has always worked great. Just bought some organic cornflour which was called polenta and was yellow.  I made the usual custard in my thermie and it came out really gluggy (inedible) from obviously too much organic cornflour!!!! Is this like arrowroot too where you have to halve the quantity compared to normal store bought (corn)cornflour.

It's odd that it would be called polenta.  Polenta is coarse cornmeal, not at all like cornstarch or corn flour as you call it there. 

The following link is an excellent explanation of starch thickeners of all types and how they are used.   Starch Thickeners

I have some other that I use for special purposes (agar-agar, guar gum, xanthan gum, acacia gum, kuzu root and gum arabic (food grade, some of the latter is for art use only). 

Regarding the use in ice cream and etc.
The following page is all about food additives and WHY they are used, not so much how, but if you understand the basics of the application, it may make it easier to choose one.
Food Additives.

I've opened it with Emulsifiers because Judy asked about ice cream and it is the emulsifying agents that keep ice cream from forming big ice crystals - that and "re-churning" which involves allowing the ice cream to soften and then putting it back in the machine and mixing it again, sometimes two or more times, to insure uniformly tiny ice crystals.