Chapter 1 - History and Future of Starch

Abstract

The practical use of starch products, and of starch itself, developed when Egyptians, in the predynastic period, cemented strips of papyrus together with starch adhesive made from wheat. Starchy foods are derived from seeds, roots, and tubers. Cato gave a procedure for starch production in some detail in a Roman treatise. In the Middle Ages the manufacture of wheat starch became an important industry in Holland, and Dutch starch was considered to be of high quality. An early form of starch modification practiced in this period involved the starch being slightly hydrolyzed by vinegar. The nineteenth century witnessed an enormous expansion of the starch industry, due largely to demands of the textile, color printing, and paper industries, and to the discovery that starch can be readily converted into a gum-like product known as dextrin. In 1900, the United Starch Company and the National Starch Manufacturing Company joined forces to form the National Starch Company of New Jersey. Starch in its native form is a versatile product, and the raw material for production of many modifications, sweeteners, and ethanol. Starting in the 1930s, carbohydrate chemists have developed numerous products that have greatly expanded starch use and utility. Waxy corn starch, high-amylose corn starch, chemically modified starches, and naturally modified corn starches have been discussed in this chapter with other products derived out of starch such as sweeteners, ethanol, polyols, organic acids, and amino acids. Banana starch and Amaranth starch are the two new starches for the industry.