Brown & Polson

Brown & Polson is a long-established British cornflour brand, and for generations its box has been the one British cooks reach for to thicken gravy and custard. Cornflour in the British sense is pure starch extracted from maize, a silky white powder quite different from yellow cornmeal or the makki atta used for flatbreads.

Brown & Polson cornflour sits in our cornflour collection, part of the wider gram and corn flour shelf within the atta and flour department. Because it is almost flavourless and thickens to a glossy, clear finish, a small amount goes a long way in sauces, soups and desserts.

In Indo-Chinese cooking cornflour is essential: it coats chicken, paneer and cauliflower before frying for chilli chicken, gobi manchurian and crispy chilli paneer, and a slurry thickens the sauce at the end. Hot and sour soup and sweetcorn soup rely on it for body. Indian sweet makers use it for Karachi or Bombay halwa, cooked with sugar syrup and ghee until it turns jelly-like and translucent, and a spoonful goes into kulfi to keep it smooth. In British kitchens it thickens gravy, stews, fruit fillings and homemade custard, and bakers add it to shortbread for a tender crumb.

Always mix cornflour with cold liquid before adding it to anything hot, or it will form lumps. Keep the box dry and closed. To compare, see the Ching's cornflour, or our gram flour collection for besan batters.