[Jamestown1630]

I’ve never used tapioca in any form, for anything, but I looked it up, and found this by one of my husband’s favorite Internet health guys - he says you can use it to thicken sauces, and I’ve been looking for some way to make a good cheese sauce without regular flour:

https://draxe.com/nutrition/article/tapioca-flour/

[Liz]

Yeah....tapioca starch is a great idea.

In some of the old gourmet cookbooks, chefs called for the use of arrowroot as a thickener....its derived from a plant.
Bob’s Red Mill carries this product——Arrowroot Starch

For thickening: Arrowroot is best used at the end of your cooking just before boiling, as continued heating will cause it to lose its thickening ability. For gravies and sauces: add Arrowroot Starch to a small amount of cool liquid first, then whisk into hot liquids.

For homemade ice cream: Arrowroot starch can help stop ice crystals from forming, which can make the ice cream too frozen to scoop. Use 1 tsp Arrowroot Starch per pint of ice cream.As an egg replacer: whisk together 1 Tbsp ...

[Liz]

I guess all our moms used to make tapioca pudding.

Now you can buy fat-free and even instant tapioca.......in a pkg.