Non-thermoplastic starch fibers having no melting point and having apparent peak wet tensile stress greater than about 0.2 MegaPascals (MPa). The fibers can be manufactured from a composition comprising a modified starch and a cross-linking agent. The composition can have a shear viscosity from about 1 Pascal.Seconds to about 80 Pascal.Seconds and an apparent extensional viscosity in the range of from about 150 Pascal.Seconds to about 13,000 Pascal.Seconds. The composition can comprise from about 50% to about 75% by weight of a modified starch; from about 0.1% to about 10% by weight of an aldehyde cross-linking agent; and from about 25% to about 50% by weight of water. Prior to cross-linking, the modified starch can have a weight average molecular weight greater than about 100,000 g/mol.