To make the sauce, in a heavy saucepan, blend the cornstarch, water and sugar.

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There is, however, a potentially bigger environmental cost in the producing bags from cornstarch or palm oil.

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The fake Avastin, for instance, contained cornstarch, acetone and other chemicals, but no active ingredient to fight cancer.

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Yeast (a fungus itself) gets 500 milligrams of ethanol per gram of cornstarch.

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The gooey substance produced by mixing cornstarch with a little water is a commonplace example of such a material.

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The recipe called for a simple yellow cake to be split and filled with a whipped-cream filling stabilized with cornstarch and mixed with canned gooseberries.

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Laurier also pointed out that cornstarch bags, far from being a worthy alternative to regular polyethylene, could in the long run be more harmful to the environment.

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Mr Marshall told the judges the hospital authorities should have been aware of the dangers posed by latex gloves - which contain allergenic cornstarch - by the early 1990s and should have taken steps to protect their staff.

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