Re: What is modified corn starch?

If you have ever cooked with corn starch to made a pudding or gravy you 
know that the starch can sometimes be difficult to deal with.  If you mix 
too much starch in cold water you will end up with a lumpy pudding or 
gravy.  So food scienctist started looking at the chemical structure of 
starch.  If you don't already know food is made up of mostly Carbon, 
Oxygen and Hydrogen.  Other organic substances such as nitrogen and other 
minerals can be attached to these which cause them to react differently.  
Therefore, we scientist modified starch  by doing some 
cross-linking of chains of starch or non-crosslinking to remove chains.  
This will allow the starch to be more functional in your food.  Now we have 
starch that is called instant starch or it will gel in cold water, no more 
lunping.  You see modified food starch in many food products to make the 
food product behave better after it has been frozen or refrigeratored.  
There is a lot more chemistry to answer your question more deeply, if you 
would like more detail I can give it to you but this is a good surface 
answer to your question.