Abstract
Starches from cassava, potato and maize were hydrolysed by locally sourced crude amylases to assess and compare the performance of the enzymes in converting root and cereal starches to glucose syrup. Standard amylases (Sigma USA) served as the reference enzymes. Selected physical and sensory characteristics of the syrups produced were evaluated simultaneously with the syrups produced by the standard amylases. The crude amylases showed higher (P amylases increased with increase in substrate concentration up to a maximum substrate concentration of 10%. The crude alpha amylase exhibited a dextrinization time of 2.5h, 2.75h and 3.0h for maize, cassava and potato starches and produced 13%, 12% and 11.8% glucose respectively. The crude gluco-amylase had maximum saccharification time of 72h for cassava and potato starches, 84h for maize and produced 24.37%, 21.8% and 21% glucose respectively. The crude amylases produced syrups in the type II category with Dextrose Equivalent (DE) of 47 and 50 from potato and cassava starches respectively, while syrup from maize starch fall within type III category with DE of 61. Potato starch syrup exhibited higher (P < 0.05) apparent viscosity and low (P < 0.05) mean score for colour and taste than cassava and maize syrups.
Highlights
Glucose syrups are sweetening agents that have been widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries
Maize starch showed more than 3 fold higher (P < 0.05) crude protein, fat and fibre and lower (P < 0.05) carbohydrate than cassava and potato starches
Cassava starch used in this study had a residual cyanide content of 0.80ppm which is much lower than the safe level permitted in cassava (20mg/kg) product garri (NIS, 1997)
Summary
Glucose syrups are sweetening agents that have been widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries. Codex Alimentarius defined glucose syrup as a purified concentrated aqueous solution of nutritive saccharide obtained from starch. This definition implies that glucose syrup can be produced from any starch source. The choice of a starch source is influenced by the ease of availability and cost of separating the starch from other constituents of the starch source. The choice of starch for many years has been maize in developed countries. In developing countries of the tropics like Nigeria where maize is the raw material for many industrial productions, starchy tubers like cassava which occur abundantly may be considered an alternative starch source
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