# "A bowl of corn flour" -- ring a bell? UK readers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371 "2021-03-21T21:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/1 "2021-03-21T21:18:56Z")
I’m listening to an audio book of an Agatha Christie/Miss Marple story (it’s the first story in The Thirteen Problems) when this term comes up. Apparently it’s a sort of porridge made (I presume) from corn flour, and it was apparently a specific against upset stomach. Has anyone heard of this term, and am I right about what it means? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/2 "2021-03-21T21:47:31Z")
I’ve only heard of this in Agatha Christie myself. Decades and continents make that a confusing reference for me too, and I hope we get an informative answer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/3 "2021-03-21T21:49:12Z")
Sure it’s not _cornflower_? Google has a lot of hits. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/4 "2021-03-21T21:54:14Z")
Cornflour in British English means corn starch. It’s not the same as corn flour. It can’t be used to make a porridge. I’ve no idea how it would have been used to treat a stomach upset, although Google has a couple of suggestions that look promising. [Cornstarch: A Remedy for Diarrhea, Shitting Too Frequently, and Endless Wiping : shittingadvice (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/shittingadvice/comments/29vffh/cornstarch_a_remedy_for_diarrhea_shitting_too/) [TT: The Great Corn-Flour Mystery | Jane Lindskold: Wednesday Wanderings (wordpress.com)](https://janelindskold.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/tt-the-great-corn-flour-mystery/) ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/5 "2021-03-21T22:02:43Z")
Could it have been something like polenta/corn meal? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/6 "2021-03-21T22:27:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Sure it’s not _cornflower_? Google has a lot of hits. In the usage “A bowl of…?” I didn’t find any. However, googling that (sorry, I should have done that first) did reveal these interesting tidbits. From [here](https://food.ndtv.com/ingredient/cornflour-701009): “One can make a simple pudding with corn starch, milk and sugar.” Plus the information that “cornflour” in the UK is called corn starch in the US. Also from [here](https://janelindskold.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/tt-the-great-corn-flour-mystery/), a few lines selected from the story where this is used, noting that it is hyphenated here. ’ “Mr. Jones had gone down to the kitchen and demanded a bowl of corn-flour for his wife, who had complained of not feeling well.” Later: “Miss Clark… told us that the whole of the bowl of corn-flour was drunk not by Mrs. Jones but by her.” Later: “it is nicely made, too, no lumps… Very few girls nowadays seem to be able to make a bowl of corn-flour nicely.” Later: “You drink up the bowl of corn-flour.” ’ So it sounds like perhaps a fairly loose or thin pudding made with corn-flour (corn starch), milk and sugar, useful to settle the stomach. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/7 "2021-03-21T22:31:36Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > > Sure it’s not _cornflower_? Google has a lot of hits. > > In the usage “A bowl of…?” I didn’t find any. I googled “bowl of cornflower”, and the first page had (a) stuff about whisking lemon juice into a bowl of cornflower paste, as well as (b) what looks quite like a quote from a mystery novel: _“The police thought that she could have been poisoned as the maid Gladys mentioned Mr Jones prepared a bowl of cornflower for his wife and took it to her in her bedroom.”_ (And then, from another site: _“She had also prepared a bowl of cornflower for Mrs Jones to calm her stomach but Miss Clark had drunk this, despite the diet she was on for her constant weight problem.”_) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/8 "2021-03-21T23:03:58Z")
Interesting, that is the same story that I quoted above, but the word is spelled differently in yours. “Cornflower” in common usage is a small blue flower and doesn’t really make sense in this context. Also, I still don’t find anything in Google under “a bowl of cornflower” except the same quotes as I quoted above all with what I presume is the correct spelling. Of course, your googling history affects your googling results, but it seems to be assuming in my case that I want “corn flour.” I would be very interested if you would provide one or two cites for what you turned up on Google. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/9 "2021-03-21T23:15:16Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I would be very interested if you would provide one or two cites for what you turned up on Google. Well, sure: here’s [one](https://mercy2908.wordpress.com/2017/01/03/new-book-the-thirteen-problems-by-agatha-christie/amp/), and here’s [another](https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tuesday_Night_Club), though I suspect they’re both just making the same mistake — and, if so, all apologies for muddying the waters. (Still, for what it’s worth, I can’t help but note an aside from WebMD: _“People take cornflower tea to treat fever, constipation, water retention, and chest congestion. They also take it as a tonic, bitter, and liver and gallbladder stimulant. Women take it for menstrual disorders and vaginal yeast infections.”_) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/10 "2021-03-22T03:04:37Z")
Thanks for the references. Now I want to get hold of a copy of the book to see how the word was written down there. update: I was going to try to get an electronic version for instant gratification, but there apparently isn’t one, at least not in Kindle format. So here’s an appeal to anyone who owns this book to please look this up, it’s in the first story in the collection. Plus still looking for anyone who has other knowledge of this phrase and/or this remedy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/11 "2021-03-22T03:12:48Z")
A comment in Roderick\_Femm’s second linked article remarks: > [@](#): > > I remember that in Jane Austen’s Emma, Emma tries to send some arrowroot to someone who was sick (that didn’t turn out well, due to all the complicated personal relationships in that novel). But the Wikipedia article on arrowroot says “In the Victorian era it was used, boiled with a little flavouring added, as an easily digestible food for children and people with dietary restrictions. With today’s greater understanding of its limited nutritional properties, it is no longer used in this way.” > > So, I think the idea of it being an old-fashioned home remedy is right on. It also sounds completely disgusting, depending on how thick the mixture was, and on what flavorings were added. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/12 "2021-03-22T03:16:13Z")
In my copy of “Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories” (copyright date 1985), in the first story (“The Tuesday Night Club”), it’s printed as “corn-flour”, hyphen included. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/13 "2021-03-22T03:23:21Z")
Thank you, Seanette. I presume that is the printed-on-paper version, and not the electronic version. I ask because I did find the story in an e-book volume with another title, “The Complete Short Stories (Miss Marple).” In that version, it is spelled “cornflour,” without the hyphen. Now, taking that as settled, we can get back to one of my original questions, is anyone here familiar with the actual substance, the “bowl of cornflour” as a light pudding designed to settle the stomach (or indeed for any other purpose)? (Interesting information about arrowroot, although it is different from cornflour (corn starch).) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/14 "2021-03-22T03:33:31Z")
Arrowroot is also a white powdered starch used to thicken stuff, fwiw. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/15 "2021-03-22T03:50:15Z")
Yeah, I use arrowroot and corn starch pretty interchangeably. They both do the same thing: thicken. To me, it just sounds like they’re making pudding (American definition.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/16 "2021-03-22T04:01:54Z")
[Here’s an early 20th-c. (?) book entitled Cookery for Invalids and Others,](https://archive.org/details/b20392916/page/104) with the following remarks on arrowroot and cornflour: > [@](#): > > Arrowroot. — This is pure starch, and in itself, as a food, of but little value. But from its astringent nature it is very useful in special forms of illness, and is regarded as a good medium for conveying other articles of nutrition, such as eggs, wine, brandy, milk, &c. ; moreover, it is said to prepare the stomach for more solid nourishment later on, and is generally found soothing in irritable conditions of the stomach and intestines. For this reason it should be borne in mind as a thickener for soups, &c. ; although corn flour (Kingsford’s Oswego or Brown and Polson’s) makes an excellent substitute. Store it in a dry place, and see that it is free from lumps before beginning to mix it. > > Egg Arrowroot. — Prepare a teacupful of arrowroot as below, and when it is off the boil beat in a fresh egg, which has first been whisked well ; give as it is, or set in a steamer for a minute or two. It may be taken hot, tepid, or cold. > > Milk Arrowroot. — Make as water arrowroot below; boil for five minutes at least: cream is sometimes put in to increase the nourishment. > > Water Arrowroot. — Allow half an ounce of arrowroot to half a pint of water; mix to a smooth paste with cold water, boil the rest, and add it, stirring well ; then boil for a few minutes, stirring all the time. Add sugar to taste, but sometimes none is allowed. A morsel of cinnamon may be boiled with it and removed ; where disliked, ginger can replace it. Wine or brandy is frequently ordered ; either should be added after boiling. This is the least nourishing of all, except when such additions are made, then it is found to agree better than milk arrowroot in most cases. These are average proportions ; often liked thinner or thicker. I’m inclined to think that the corn-flour variant of that “water arrowroot” is what Christie was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/17 "2021-03-22T08:52:04Z")
Now that I know so many gluten-intolerant people, I can’t help but wonder if the reason a pure-starch pudding was considered appropriate for people “with dietary restictions” or “to calm her stomach” or as a “Remedy for Diarrhea etc.” was because isolate starch contains only trace levels of gluten. ---
**Author:** ![BATowers65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@BATowers65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BATowers65)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/18 "2022-01-08T21:11:48Z")
My mum used to make me a bowl of cornflour when I was a little girl, when I didn’t fancy a proper meal. I still make it for myself from time to time. It is made exactly like custard- custard powder is after all mostly corn flour (starch) with flavourings. You mix it with sugar and a little cold milk, warm the rest of the milk in the pan, then add the mixed cornflour with the warm milk and cook, stirring, until thick. You probably have to be a certain age to be familiar with eating a nice bowl of cornflour. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/19 "2022-01-08T21:28:38Z")
Cornflour (Brit.) = cornstarch (USA) Cornstarch (cornflour) is a thickener. It is often used to thicken sauce in Chinese food (at least in Chinese restaurants in the US). I often make vanilla pudding with milk, sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, and cornstarch. You bring the mixture to a boil to activate the thickening properties of the cornstarch, stir continuously, and boil for a couple of minutes until thickened. It thickens further when cooled. When I add sliced bananas and Nabisco vanilla wafers, it becomes 'Nanner Pudding. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2022, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371/20 "2022-01-09T08:10:54Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > { } You bring the mixture to a boil to activate the thickening properties of the cornstarch {…} > **[Starch gelatinization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch_gelatinization)** > > Starch gelatinization is a process of breaking down of intermolecular bonds of starch molecules in the presence of water and heat, allowing the hydrogen bonding sites (the hydroxyl hydrogen and oxygen) to engage more water. This irreversibly dissolves the starch granule in water. Water acts as a plasticizer. > Three main processes happen to the starch granule: granule swelling, crystallite and double-helical melting, and amylose leaching. > The gelatinization temperature of starch depends upon ... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bowl-of-corn-flour-ring-a-bell-uk-readers/938371.md?page=2)