Tesco confirms it has discontinued selling cornflour due to "lack of customer demand"

[mandolinwind]

If you are going to be very inconvenienced by this decision please reply to the Twitter thread and tell Tesco what you use cornflour for in your kitchen:

twitter.com/croakinggoat/status/1592468320443592705

I also couldn't find cream of tartar in Tesco recently so I suspect that has also stopped being sold.

Leave the brown meat juices and maybe a tablespoon of fat in the roasting pan, stir in a tablespoon or so of plain flour, stir well and cook it a bit - you can carefully brown it a bit at this stage if it looks pallid. Then gradually stir in some water from cooking the veg (you can save some from parboiling the potatoes). Don't rush this part, stir constantly till its thickened. Best to use a spatula or spoon with a flat edge rather than rounded so it scrapes across the bottom where it thickens first.

It's the same as for making a white or cheese sauce except there you use. melted butter and incorporate milk.

I think that may be a supply issue as I have been unable to find anywhere including my local independent who do still (want to) stock it.

The hot chocolate mentioned upthread is essentially drinkable chocolate custard! Sounds good.

I use heaps of cornflour. It used to be a once a year kind of purchase, but now I have a 6 year old with a passion for oobleck, we can easily use a box a week.

Worth knowing. I make a lot of cheese sauce-type things and rely on cornflour for that.

I don't see the point of making a roux with cornflour? The whole point of cornflour as a thickener is that you can slake it with the liquid (milk, e.g, for white/cheese sauce) and stir it straight in.

I found out that cornflour was vanishing weeks ago, when my annual box ran out and I went looking for more. I use Delia's all-in-one method for making white/cheese sauce and, while generally v successful, due to my lack of measuring when cooking, occasionally it needs extra thickening. That's when the cornflour is deployed.

I did buy some thickening granules from Morrison's which worked well, but I didn't really like the look of the ingredients.

They are listing Dr.Oetker's today, which is rather expensive at £1.40 for a packet of six sachets (30g in total) compared to Sainsbury's, which is £1.35 for a160g tub:

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=cream%20of%20tartar

I don't think I've ever used it

I don't see the point of making a roux with cornflour? The whole point of cornflour as a thickener is that you can slake it with the liquid (milk, e.g, for white/cheese sauce) and stir it straight in

Yes, quite.

I don't see the point of making a roux with cornflour? The whole point of cornflour as a thickener is that you can slake it with the liquid (milk, e.g, for white/cheese sauce) and stir it straight in.

Yes... I think I only tried making a cornflour roux once, iirc it wasn't as good as wheat flour for that.

They sell it in most corner shops I’ve found, have a look in your local one.
Ive found a few things in the corner shop that the supermarkets didn’t have (seasonings etc)

Home made cheese sauce ingredients, butter, flour, milk, cheese, mustard, salt ,pepper.

Packet cheese sauce ingredients, cheese powder, wheat flour,starch, skimmed milk powder, iodised salt, mustard seed,spices, sugar, potassium chloride, flavourings , celery, egg, soy.

Also haven't been able to find any Celery Salt for about a year!

I really hate those packet cheese sauces too. Plus I think making pesto is quite therapeutic.

I use cornflour for my cheese sauce but I don't get through a box very often. And my local refill shop stocks it, so I'll just buy small amounts from them in future (same with my herbs and spices as they run out).

My last box was from Aldi

I can never find gravy browning!

Yes, that has been gone for years now. Mind you, a bottle used to last me about 5 years

Yes, sorry I got that! they say that now, but will they actually discontinue. Surely unlikely, it's a basic baking ingredient. So will they then, bring out a less weight more expensive one, dispute saying they wouldn't?

To be honest I stopped using cornflour when I ran out of it. Now I use plain flour to make sauces.

I made a cheese sauce last night with cornflour because I'd used all the plain flour and couldn't be bothered to go out, then I remembered why I never make it that way.

Haven't shopped in tesco for years, other supermarkets are available. If you are replying though, tell them to make blancmange as ALL supermarkets seem to have stopped selling it...

How do you do this, please?

I buy cornflour at least monthly, haven’t been able to find it in Tesco for years.
I may have to stock up next time I am in Lidl or Morrisons just in case they decide there’s no demand as well.

If they do repackage, for example, go back to using cardboard tubs rather than packets, or if it's relaunched but at a different weight, I'll have a grumble at that them for giving out misinformation.