| Katakuri | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Liliales |
| Family: | Liliaceae |
| Genus: | Erythronium |
| Species: | E. japonicum |
| Binomial name | |
| Erythronium japonicum Decne. |
|
Katakuri (Erythronium japonicum; Japanese: 片栗) is a species of lily native to Japan, Korea and northeastern China.
Katakuri starch, or katakuriko (Japanese: 片栗粉), is a starch originally processed from the corm of katakuri. Despite having kuri (栗), lit. chestnut, as part of the word, it is not processed from chestnuts, but from the corm of this lily.
Katakuriko is now often processed from potatoes, which are much cheaper, as true katakuriko is now quite costly and is rarely available in stores.
Katakuriko is often used as a sauce thickener. It may also be used to make tempura, especially when a need to quickly fry ingredients arises because the normal cooking process could damage them through too much heat.