In our Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake, for instance, we call for Instant ClearJel in the mascarpone filling to prevent the cake from slumping and give you neat, clean edges when slicing the cake. Thanks to its gelling properties, Instant ClearJel makes a great stabilizer for creamy fillings and toppings. To keep the mascarpone filling of this Strawberry Mascarpone Tea Cake stable enough to support all that cake, we use Instant ClearJel. For this reason, the freezer is not the best place to store it (unless it’s already mixed with sugar and other ingredients, as with freeze-and-bake pies). While the freezer is a (very) cool and dry place, taking Instant ClearJel in and out of the freezer causes condensation on and inside the container, which can lead to clumping. Instant ClearJel is best stored well-sealed in a cool, dry cupboard.

King Arthur Research & Development Specialist Frank Tegethoff offers guidance: “If the liquid it's first added to is too hot to touch comfortably, it’s too hot for Instant ClearJel.” It’s also important to add Instant ClearJel to liquid that is not too hot otherwise, it will become too viscous too quickly, again leading to lumps. Without it, the Instant ClearJel has the tendency to quickly soak up available liquid, causing lumps in the mixture.

To get technical, the sugar controls the rate at which the starch absorbs moisture. This step prevents clumping once it’s added to wet ingredients. The key to using Instant ClearJel is to mix it with sugar first. Our tried-and-true pie thickener chart gives guidance on how much to use depending on the type of fruit in your pie: use more for fruits without much pectin for thickening (such as strawberries) and less for high-pectin fruits like apples and blueberries. So how do you use Instant ClearJel?Īs the apple pie example above demonstrates, one of Instant ClearJel’s primary uses is as a thickener for pie fillings - it gets tossed with the fruit alongside other ingredients. Instant ClearJel is a key stabilizer in the uncooked filling of this Chocolate Mousse Cake with Raspberries. Photography by Rick Holbrook food styling by Liz Neily Doing so thickens the juices and sets the interior texture of the pie, allowing it to hold its shape when sliced and not be runny, all without getting too stiff or gummy. It works beautifully in our Apple Pie, for example, where the fruit gets tossed along with Instant ClearJel, sugar, and spices before being baked. While heat is not required for Instant ClearJel to work, it can be heated. “Instant” is the key distinguisher in the name, as this starch begins to swell or thicken as soon as it comes in contact with liquid - no heat required! This “cold-swelling” property allows Instant ClearJel to be used in uncooked fillings, such as the mousse in this Chocolate Mousse Cake with Raspberries. Instant ClearJel is not the same thing as similarly named products used for canning and preservation and should not be used for that purpose. The proprietary sorting process makes ClearJel more specialized than supermarket cornstarch: When used in the correct amount, it prevents fruit fillings from having the gummy or starchy texture or cloudy appearance that can sometimes happen with run-of-the-mill cornstarch. The result is similar to cornstarch: a fine, powdery starch meant for thickening fruit pie fillings and smooth, creamy cake fillings. While modified food starch can be made from a number of ingredients, including wheat, potatoes, and tapioca, ClearJel is derived from corn that has been ground and processed to sort out specific starches with certain sought-after gelling properties. Instant ClearJel is made of only one ingredient: modified food starch. Instant ClearJel is one of our favorite pie thickeners.

Photography by Kristin Teig food styling by Liz Neily

Substitute for liquid starch