Florida arrowroot was the commercial name of an edible

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

extracted from ''

Zamia integrifolia ''Zamia integrifolia'', also known as coontie palm is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States (in Florida and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia), the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Description ''Zamia integrifo ...

'' (coontie), a small

cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants o ...

native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Use

Almidon arqueologico de Zamia amblyphyllidia Artef

Like other cycads, ''Zamia integrifolia'' is

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

ous, producing a toxin that affects the

gastrointestinal tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organ (biology), organs of the digestive syste ...

and

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

. The toxin can however be removed by careful leaching, and the roots and half-buried stems of this cycad were used by Native American people (notably the

Tequesta The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) were a Native American tribe. At the time of first European contact they occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans a ...

and

Mayaimi The Mayaimi (also Maymi, Maimi) were Native American people who lived around Lake Mayaimi (now Lake Okeechobee) in the Belle Glade area of Florida from the beginning of the Common Era until the 17th or 18th century. In the languages of the Ma ...

Indians, the

Seminole Indians The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

and the

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

) to produce this starch. The root is typically prepared by grinding (macerating) it using a wooden

mortar and pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' () ...

. The pulp is then saturated in water and drained. The drained fluid is allowed to dry and the resulting yellowish powder is used in the preparation of various foods. In commercial production, multiple macerations achieved a whiter color. Commercial production of the starch (using roots gathered from wild plants) occurred in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, from the 1830s until the 1920s. The starch was sold as

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

arrowroot Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...

until the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

banned the practice in 1925. The last commercial "coontie starch" factory in Florida was destroyed by the

1926 Miami Hurricane The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 mill ...

Etymology

The reference to

, a well known and high quality starch, was a marketing ploy. Because of this use, ''Zamia integrifolia'' is sometimes known as Florida arrowroot.

References

{{reflist Edible thickening agents Plants used in Native American cuisine Zamia