Natural straws and their manufacturing process.

Abstract

------05 / 01 / 2567------(OCR) Natural straws are made from a mixture of glutinous rice starch, rice starch, tapioca starch, and water. The process involves spreading the starch onto the mouth of a pot covered with a tightly wrapped cheesecloth. Boiling water is placed inside the pot, and a plastic straw is used as a mold to roll the starch into the desired straw shape. The blue color comes from butterfly pea flowers, and the pink or red color comes from hibiscus extract used in hot water. These natural straws are edible as they are made from starch and are free of chemicals. They are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. They function best at temperatures below 60 degrees Celsius. At 25 degrees Celsius (room temperature), they decompose completely within approximately 30 days.

Claims

------05 / 01 / 2567------(OCR) 1. Natural drinking straws have the following ingredients: glutinous rice flour 5-10% by weight, rice flour 10-20% by weight, tapioca flour 5-10% by weight, and water 70-80% by weight.

2. The manufacturing process of natural drinking straws, as per claim 1, involves the following steps: a. Add water to the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and tapioca flour, then stir the flour and water together until homogeneous at room temperature. b. Extraction of extracts from hibiscus and butterfly pea flowers is done using the following extraction ratios: butterfly pea flower : water (10 g : 70 ml) and hibiscus flower : water (15 g : 70 ml). Boil at 80°C for 7 minutes. Then filter the butterfly pea and hibiscus flower extracts through cheesecloth. This will yield a blue or dark blue shade from the butterfly pea flower and a pink or red shade from the hibiscus flower. (If you want the natural straws to have different colors, add butterfly pea and hibiscus extracts instead of water when dissolving the starch in step a.) c. Add water to two-thirds the height of the pot. Cover the mouth of the pot with a layer of cheesecloth. Secure the cheesecloth with a rubber band or a fabric stretching device such as elastic, tightening the cheesecloth as much as possible. d.Place a pot lined with cheesecloth over the fire. When the water in the pot boils (95-100 degrees Celsius), carefully pour one tablespoon (5 ml) of the prepared starch solution onto the cheesecloth and spread it thinly. Cover the pot and leave it for 30 seconds. Once the starch is cooked, use a plastic tube (acting as a mold) to roll the starch around it, shaping it into a straw. Let the natural straw from step E dry at room temperature for 24 hours. Once the starch has solidified, remove it from the straw from step F. You will have a natural straw.

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