Adulteration of food has now turned into a severe concern for most of the households. Most of the food items being found adulterated, including some of the staples like wheat flour, and thus, it is important to check the purity of the material being consumed. Adulterated flour does not only reduce the quality of our food but may also cause severe health disorders. Lately, the officials in Uttar Pradesh raided an illegal flour mill, mixing stone powder with the flour. The officials seized over 400 kilograms of such adulterated mixture. An incident like this raises an alarm and puts one on their toes. However, you need not go to any laboratory to test whether wheat flour is pure or not. Some easy ways will give you an idea about the wheat flour in your kitchen.
The Lemon Test
Among all the ways to check for adulteration in wheat flour, the lemon test remains the easiest. What this test aims at is the identification of chalk powder, which is a common adulterant in flour. The test can be carried out by taking a small quantity of flour and adding a few drops of lemon juice to it. In this case, if the flour is adulterated with chalk powder, a bubbling or fizzing reaction will simply mean the flour is adulterated. The pure wheat flour will not show any such reaction with lemon juice; thus, in the absence of any bubbling, the flour is likely safe for eating.
The Water Test
This is another simple method to check on the purity of wheat flour and to determine whether excess bran or any other impurity is present in it. Put water into a glass and add one spoon of flour to it. Thoroughly mix the mixture and analyze the mixing output. In the adulterated flour, you will have a lot of particles floating on the surface, which is indicating the presence in the flour of extra bran or other impurities other than the flour. The whole wheat flour will mix with water without leaving the floating particles. This test will particularly be useful if one suspects that the flour has been adulterated with inferior products.
Taste Test
The taste test is one other simple test of impurities in wheat flour. Although it may raise some eyebrows to actually taste raw flour, this can be a rather ingenious technique for ascertaining whether adulteration has taken place or not. Take a pinch of flour and taste it. Pure wheat flour has a neutral and slightly nutty flavour. Naturally, if the flour is adulterated, then it will have a bitter or even a nasty taste. Bitterness is an almost sure indication that adulterants mean this flour is best avoided in your cooking.
The HCl Test
For a more scientific approach, you might want to conduct the HCl test-which is hydrochloric acid and would find the presence of an adulterant like soapstone or clay. Prepare a paste of wheat flour and water then add to that a few drops of hydrochloric acid. Then dip in a piece of turmeric paper. The adulterants will lead to a reddening of the turmeric paper, while the pure flour will not give any change in colour. This test would be very handy in trying to locate more hazardous adulterants that may not show up in simpler methods like the lemon or water test.