The Physicochemical Characterization of Unconventional Starches and Flours Used in Asia.

Ng C F Grace,Christiani Jeyakumar Henry

doi:10.3390/foods9020182

Abstract

Starches and flours used commonly in Asia (tapioca, sweet potato, sago, water chestnut, and high amylose maize starch, red rice and kithul flour) were characterized in terms of their chemical composition, morphological, functional, pasting, thermal, gelling and in vitro digestibility properties. It was observed that the differences in their chemical composition and structure influenced their properties. High amylose maize was the most stable, thus it required the highest gelatinization temperature which was observed in both the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and pasting profiles. Kithul flour had a significantly lower rate of digestion (p < 0.05) than the other samples (except for high amylose maize starch). Unlike high amylose maize starch, it had a gelatinization temperature that could be achieved during cooking, and had good gelling properties.

Highlights

Starch is the main carbohydrate in foods and is an important food ingredient for many food products
High amylose maize and water chestnut starches have higher starch content than the amount of available carbohydrates. This is attributed to their resistant starch content which has been reported for high amylose maize starch [19]
The high amylose maize starch had high gelatinization onset temperature due to the high amylose content, which agreed with the results presented by other authors [29]

Summary

Introduction

Starch is the main carbohydrate in foods and is an important food ingredient for many food products. Most of the research have focused on the mainstream starches such as maize, potato, rice, cassava and wheat starches, which are the major sources used for the commercial extraction of starch globally [1]. Many of the unconventional starches and flours commonly used in Asia such as sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), sago (Metroxylon sagu), water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis) starches, red rice (Oryza rufipogon) and kithul flour (Caryota urens), have not been extensively characterized. Sago and kithul are from the palm family and extraction from the pith of the stem yields the flour. These starches/flours are available commercially in native state but not much research has been done in terms of systematically characterizing them and studying their functional properties

Methods

Results

Conclusion