IS ARROWROOT POWDER PALEO?

ThePaleoList Answers: Is Arrowroot Powder Paleo?

Is arrowroot a good starch substitute?

The most important part of our paleo food list app is the feedback section where people ask us questions on the paleo-ness of certain food items. They may also tell us our app is great! Or our app is crap! Either way we appreciate any feedback and have been willing to work on improving the experience. One of our suggestions was to look into a peculiar tuber, Arrowroot Powder.

Is Arrowroot Powder Paleo?

Arrowroot is a starchy tuber, and it can be processed into a powder which can be used as a thickener for stews, sauces, and gravies. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, if you are wondering whether arrowroot powder is Paleo or not, it turns out that the answer is not so simple. According to Robb Wolf, it is Paleo. Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple gives it approval for people who follow a Primal diet, which is close to Paleo but slightly different. Other sources say that it is not Paleo.

Since there is not a clear answer from the Paleo community about the Paleo – ness of arrowroot powder, you could arrive at your own conclusion about whether arrowroot powder is important enough to you to concern yourself with all of this thinking and pondering about whether you should eat it. You can also run it through Cole Bradburn’s Paleo Diet flowchart, which yields an answer of “not Paleo”.

If you are sticking to a strict Paleo diet, you may be interested in knowing whether you can thicken your stews, sauces, and gravies without adding arrowroot powder or any other starch. Fortunately, you can. By simmering your sauce, stew, or gravy over low heat, you can reduce it to a thicker consistency through the magic of evaporation. Depending upon how thin the liquid is to begin with, the reduction method of thickening may take some time and patience. That said, it probably requires less patience to reduce your sauces to the desired thickness than it does to think through the decision of whether or not to use arrowroot powder based upon your personal interpretation of the Paleo diet.

Have you used arrowroot in your cooking? Have any recipes to share? We’d like to hear them.

Are you struggling with which foods are Paleo? Do you need help planning some Paleo meals? Check out this great Paleo cookbook: