Polystarch flour, also known as polystarch powder or portion bread powder, was used to make polystarch portion bread. When the beige and green powder was mixed with water, it activated a chemical reaction that expanded and solidified the mixture into a doughy, bread-like loaf.
Dehydrated polystarch used to make portion bread and dehydrated veg-meat were supplied together in some military ration packs, including those of Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and the New Republic. Prior to the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY, a New Republic team formed that included human starfighter pilot Norra Wexley. Wexley was captured on the planet Jakku by stormtroopers from the Empire, and she was forced to work at a kesium gas rig. Her rations were sometimes a packet of polystarch with water to activate it into bread. After the battle, starships from both the Empire and the New Republic littered the surface of Jakku in a starship graveyard. Supplies salvaged from the wreckage included ration packs of dehydrated polystarch and veg-meat, which the Crolute junk boss Unkar Plutt divided into portions that he used to control the local food supply at his Concession Stand in Niima Outpost.
A scavenger named Rey lived on Jakku and salvaged valuable parts from crashed ships to trade with Unkar Plutt for portions that included dehydrated polystarch. One on occasion, she competed with Melitto scavenger Sarco Plank to salvage the wreckage of a star destroyer locally nicknamed the "Ghost Ship," but they encountered the still-active security droid K-8Z8. Rey pushed Plank to abandon a fortune in polystarch and veg-meat rations to escape the droid. Plank gave her several portions afterward, and they shared a meal of polystarch portion bread.
In 34 ABY, the First Order sacked the Tuanul village on Jakku. They captured Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, but not before he charged his droid, BB-8, to continue his mission. Along BB-8's way through the Kelvin Ravine, he met an Aleena mother who begged him for help feeding her hungry children. BB-8 remembered seeing polystarch and veg-meat packets in a starship, and he led the family to the rations before continuing his journey. He soon met Rey after she finished a dinner of veg-meat and polystarch portion bread.
Sometime after the famous smuggler Han Solo's death, his Wookiee friend Chewbacca had possession of Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. When the ship needed replacement parts and repairs, Chewbacca came to an arrangement with the Weequay ex-pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who was considering a new business venture, to borrow the ship in exchange for assisting with the repairs. While en route to Batuu, Ohnaka found packets of polystarch dehydration ration packs in the ship's galley, but he dismissed them as something he would not feed to his worst enemy.
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