The corm (the underground plant stem) itself is extremely high fiber and makes for a great thickener in recipes—kind of like a gelatin substitute. Tessa Nguyen, R.D., LDN, shares that konjac is “commonly eaten in a jelly form and worked into different dishes, savory and sweet, across East and Southeast Asian dishes.” “When using konjac flour as a thickening agent in recipes like soups and sauces, you can substitute with tapioca flour, which is a lower-fiber alternative,” she adds. However, overall, konjac is a generally healthy ingredient that shouldn’t cause dramatic side effects. Other than that, she suggests buying konjac jelly, which consists of small bits of glutinous konjac root. “My favorite way to eat konjac jelly is from my time spent living in South Korea,” she says. “Konjac jelly is diced into bite-sized pieces and mixed with green onions, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, sugar, gochugaru (spicy red pepper powder), sesame oil, and toasted sesame seeds. It’s best served as a chilled side dish with rice.” Syn also enjoys using konjac flour in baking. It isn’t a substitute for wheat flour, but it can be added to traditional baked goods as a thickening agent, in order to increase your recipe’s dietary fiber content.
