Introduction To Konjac

Author: Weiping Wang, Andi Johnson Konjac Company Ltd, 5-403 Long Spring Garden,
118 Yang Bridge West Road, Fuzhou city, China, 350002.

What is Konjac Flour

Konjac flour is obtained from the tubers (roots) of various species of Amorphophallus, a plant that belongs to the family of the Araceae and was originally from South East Asia. It is the source of a water soluble fibre and has been consumed for more than 2,000 years in China and Japan as an important part of oriental dishes. Konjac is called JU RUO in Chinese, and called KONNYAKU by the Japanese in accordance with the Chinese pronunciation for JU RUO.

Depending the species, dried crude konjac flour contains about 49-60% Glucomannan as the main polysaccharide, 10-30% starch, 2-5% fibre, 5-14% crude protein, 3-5% reducing sugars and 3.4-5.3% ash, it is low in vitamins and fat. Crude konjac flour is cream to light tan in colour with typical fishy odours.

In China, konjac has been used as a food and a medicine for over 2,000 years, it has also been used as a food in Japan for more than 1,500 years. Nowadays, konjac farming and processing in China and Japan has become a highly developed industry. Konjac flour has found many applications, such as in
functional foods, a feed ingredient, gelling agent, water binder, thickener and particularly as a highly water soluble dietary fibre which can be used in non fat and low calorie diet food.

This Introduction to Konjac article has additional information on konjac structure, botany, properties and health which can be accessed using the forward arrows in the Further Reading box below or by downloading the pdf here.

*photo courtesy of Weiping Wang, Andi Johnson Konjac Company Ltd