Kuzu - for thickening sauces

[Ari Kestler]

A lot of great recipes use cornstarch or flour for thickening...I normally try to avoid this but it does leave a little something lacking in some dishes....I recently heard about kuzu as a thickening agent...anyone used it before? Does it work well? Paleo enough?

[William Yundt]

Not to get too far off topic, but I first read about kuzu root on Scott Kustes' blog not too long ago. I couldn't find any locally, but I did come across Agar Agar which is sea vegetable flakes. I picked some up, but have yet to experiment with it. I'll be sure to share the results with everyone. From a nutritional standpoint though, Agar Agar is not a starch like kuzu is which would work better for the low-carbers amongst us.

[Garrett Smith]

Isn't it kudzu?

I use xanthan gum on the rare occasion I need something thickened. I have some agar flakes, I think I've used them once.

[George Mounce]

I use xanthan gum myself, but mainly for baking something that has eggs in it.

Still trying to come up with a paleo donut...

[Aaron Austin]

Originally Posted by Ari Kestler

A lot of great recipes use cornstarch or flour for thickening...I normally try to avoid this but it does leave a little something lacking in some dishes....I recently heard about kuzu as a thickening agent...anyone used it before? Does it work well? Paleo enough?

What about arrowroot flour? I bought some today and it performs as well or better than corn starch.