Changes in physico-chemical properties and water status of durum wheat constituents in pasta due to processing and cooking

Abstract

Pasta is simply made from durum wheat semolina and water, through a succession of unitary operations. The changes of the interactions between durum wheat constituents and water molecules under different water content conditions provide information on the mechanisms involving wheat constituents and induced by the successive unitary operations. The objective of the present work is to describe the interactions between durum wheat constituents and water molecules in durum wheat semolina, dry pasta, and cooked pasta under different water content conditions using complementary analytical methods at different observation scales. Selected products were investigated by measurements of gelatinization endotherms by DSC, viscosity curves of a suspension by RVA, proton mobility by NMR, and molecular interactions by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The measured values describing the interactions between wheat constituents and water molecules are sensitive to changes induced by the process. These results contribute to a better understanding of the modifications induced by the succession of unitary operations on durum wheat constituents, from native semolina to cooked pasta.