Chapter 15 - Oat Starch

Abstract

This chapter discusses the various properties (general and rheological), applications, modifications, and production process of oat starch. The popularity of oat as a part of the human diet has increased because of reports describing the beneficial nutritional properties of oat β-glucans. Oat also has other desirable nutritional properties. Oat starch has properties that have captured industrial interest, but its use has been limited, largely because of difficulties in separation of the grain into starch, fiber, and protein fractions. Dry milling of oat groats yields approximately 35% oat bran and 65% oat flour. Separation of oat flour into starch, protein, and β-glucan fractions is difficult, because of a strong bonding between starch and protein, and because of the presence of β-glucans. Oat flour with high starch content is preferred, not only because of the higher yield, but also because as a result, the content of impurities in the starch fraction is low. A commercial fractionation process in which groats are dry-milled and the comminuted groats are soaked in a solution of cellulases and hemicellulases has been developed. Several different methods have been used for the isolation of oat starch in the laboratory. Oat starch in combination with oat hydrolysate or with xanthan gum has been used for thickening of sweet and sour sauces. Cationic oat starch is used to improve the dry strength of paper hand sheets and found to be comparable to wheat starch in functionality. Oat starch might possibly be a replacement for rice starch in pharmaceutical applications.