Abstract
Usually, the maize cob is formed by grains of medium size. However, the extremes have larger or smaller size grains. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of grain size from the same hybrid on the physicochemical properties of isolated starch, crude maize flours and nixtamalized maize flours. Two hybrids, one from CIMMyT-Mexico called IMIC-254 and one commercial sample from Monsanto (Puma) were studied. The isolated starch granules from small, medium, and large grains exhibit the same size and distribution. The grain size has influence in the determination of cooking and steeping times; small grains reach these parameters faster than medium and large ones. The hardness of the grain size for both hybrids does not showed statistical differences between them. The starch from small, medium and large grains is mainly composed of amylopectin; this result is confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Megazine analysis. The apparent viscosity of the isolated starches of small grains showed statistically significant higher peak values. According to these results, it is possible to use small, medium, and large grains to obtain products with the same physicochemical properties, by adjusting the cooking and steeping times and Ca2+ content.
Highlights
Due to grain size, processing of maize for nixtamalized products must be adjusted to ensure the best yielding and quality of the final products
According to the results mentioned above, it is clear that in the case of the hybrids studied in this work, the isolated starches from small, medium, and large maize grains have the same size distribution and shape
The chemical composition shows that small grains have a low amount of fat which can be related to the germ development in the cob, and low fiber content
Summary
Due to grain size, processing of maize for nixtamalized products must be adjusted to ensure the best yielding and quality of the final products. Maize grain size is influenced by several factors including agronomical and environmental conditions, genetic background, among others. The tortilla production is obtained by a process named nixtamalization that involves a thermo-alkaline treatment, where maize grains are cooked and steeped in an oversaturated calcium hydroxide solution [4]. During the alkaline process (cooking and steeping), there is a calcium concentration gradient through the pericarp, germ, and endosperm structures of the maize grain [5]. This process promotes physicochemical changes in the pericarp, germ, and endosperm, and gives, as a result, changes in the final products such as nixtamalized instant corn flours [6] and traditional products. The nixtamalization process is carried out with uniform grains
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