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Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is an underutilized tuber in Nigerian industries. Its starch has diverse culinary and non-food applications. In this study, locally sourced sweet potato starch was isolated and hydroxypropylated using propylene oxide. The percentage of hydroxypropyl groups added and the degree of substitution were determined. Functional groups and morphological characteristics of both native and modified starches were analyzed using FT-IR and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Functional and pasting properties were also examined. The degree of substitution and hydroxypropyl content fell within acceptable food application limits. SEM showed that granule structure remained intact after surface modification. Hydroxypropylated starches exhibited higher swelling and solubility than native starch from 50 to 90 °C. Both properties increased with greater molar substitution. Hydroxypropylation reduced storage turbidity and syneresis. Peak viscosity increased, while pasting and peak temperatures decreased after modification. Hydroxypropylated starches also had lower setback values. These results indicate enhanced functional properties in modified starch. The modified starch showed industrial potential for use in confectioneries, salad cream, mayonnaise, as well as in roles such as texturizers, thickeners, stabilizers, fillers, flavor carriers, and ingredients in beverages and bakery products, all with energy-efficient processing advantages.

Global warming inhibits grain filling in rice and leads to chalky grains, which are damaged in physical and cooking qualities. In the present paper, we evaluated 54 Japonica unpolished rice grains harvested in Japan in 2020, and these samples (original grains) were divided to two groups (whole grains and chalky grains). Using rice grains of 100% whole grains or those blended with 30% of chalky grains, we measured contents of sugars and amino acids, and textural properties of boiled rice grains. It was shown that the α-amylase activity and proteinase activity of raw chalky rice were significantly higher than those of whole rice grains, which led to the significant increase of low-molecular-weight sugars and free amino acids after boiling. Furthermore, hardness and toughness of the boiled rice grains were decreased markedly by blending chalky grains. The ratio of α-amylase activity of chalky grains to that of whole grains was shown to be a useful indicator for damage degree by high-temperature ripening. It became possible to estimate the degree of high-temperature damage of rice grains based on only the pasting properties of unpolished rice.

In the present study finger and pearl millet grains were milled and sieved to obtain flour. The flours were evaluated for chemical composition, nutritional, antinutritional, pasting and micro structural properties. Significant difference (p < 0.05) in nutrient and antinutrient contents was found among the millet flours. Protein, ash and fiber content of millet flours vary from 7.3 to 8.0 g/100 g, 2.73 to 5.16 g/100 g and 3.03 to 3.05 g/100 g. Results obtained for antinutrient factors in finger and pearl millet flours were (3.5 mg/g) and (2.2 mg/g) for tannic acid and (6.1 mg/g) and (9.2 mg/g) for phytic acid respectively. Mineral availability of pearl and finger millet flour (mg/100 g) was (109.2–139.2), (0.73–4.2), (1.18–8.7.0), (15.03–17.36) and (67.53–30.03) for calcium, zinc, iron, sodium and potassium respectively. Finger millet flour showed higher peak viscosity, breakdown, final and set back value compared to pearl millet flour. Findings from the scanning electron microscopy analysis showed microstructural differences in both millet flours. FTIR analysis showed that both finger and pearl millet flours possessed O–H and C–H compounds.

The cassava flours and starches have elicited great use in the food and non-food industry. The diversity in cassava genotypes accounts for differences in end-product properties, and would require characterization of cassava varieties for suitability of culinary and processing. This review showed that screening criteria of cassava cultivars end-user properties include proximate contents, amylose content, structural, swelling, gelatinization and pasting characteristics, including freeze–thaw stability properties of cassava-derived flours and starches. Literature shows that the physiochemical properties vary with genetic factors (i.e. genotype). In this review, the amylose content was found to be the main genetic trait for discriminating the cassava varieties for gelatinization and pasting processes including resistant starches. Moreover, cassava derived raw materials (flours and starches) were found to have various application in baking, edible film, syrup, glucose, alcohol, and soups production.

Large (A) and small (B) granules of wheat starch were separated and their morphological, thermal, structural and pasting properties were investigated. The pasting properties of starches from two wheat varieties showed significant differences. For wheat variety C-306, the unfractionated starch showed higher peak, trough, breakdown, final, and setback viscosities than the starch isolated from wheat variety WH-147. On the contrary, unfractionated starch of variety WH-147 has higher pasting temperature than the starch of the variety C-306. Differential scanning calorimetry results showed that unfractionated starch exhibited the higher gelatinization enthalpy, peak and conclusion temperatures than the isolated A- and B-starch granules from both the varieties. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed that large A-granules appeared to be smooth and displayed disk or lenticular shape having diameter 13–35 μm, while B-granules showed a spherical shape with diameter of 2–6 μm. The variations in structures and content would result in starch granules with different chemical and physical properties.

Heat-moisture treatment (HMT) changed the morphology and the degree of molecular ordering in lotus rhizome (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) starch granules slightly, leading to some detectable cavities or holes near hilum, weaker birefringence and granule agglomeration, accompanied with modified XRD pattern from C- to A-type starch and lower relative crystallinity, particularly for high moisture HMT modification. In contrast, annealing (ANN) showed less impact on granule morphology, XRD pattern and relative crystallinity. All hydrothermal treatment decreased the resistant starch (from about 27.7–35.4% to 2.7–20%), increased the damage starch (from about 0.5–1.6% to 2.4–23.6%) and modified the functional and pasting properties of lotus rhizome starch pronouncedly. An increase in gelatinization temperature but a decrease in transition enthalpy occurred after hydrothermal modification, particularly for hydrothermal modification involved with HMT. HMT-modified starch also showed higher pasting temperature, less pronounced peak viscosity, leading to less significant thixotropic behavior and retrogradation during pasting-gelation process. However, single ANN treatment imparts a higher tendency of retrogradation as compared to native starch. For dual hydrothermally modified samples, the functional properties generally resembled to the behavior of single HMT-modified samples, indicating the pre- or post-ANN modification had less impact on the properties HMT modified lotus rhizome starch.

Ultrasonic (USC) treatments have been applied to starches, flours and grains to modify their physicochemical properties and improve their industrial applicability. The extent of the modification caused by USC treatment depends on the treatment conditions and the natural characteristics of the treated matter. Cavitation leads to structural damage and fragmentation and partial depolymerization of starch components. The amorphous regions are more susceptible to being disrupted by ultrasonication, while the crystalline regions require extended USC exposure to be affected. The increased surface area in USC-treated samples has a higher interaction with water, resulting in modification of the swelling power, solubility, apparent viscosity, pasting properties and gel rheological and textural properties. Starch digestibility has been reported to be modified by ultrasonication to different extents depending on the power applied. The most important treatment variables leading to more pronounced modifications in USC treatments are the botanical origin of the treated matter, USC power, time, concentration and temperature. The interaction between these factors also has a significant impact on the damage caused by the treatment. The molecular rearrangement and destruction of starch structures occur simultaneously during the USC treatment and the final properties of the modified matrix will depend on the array of treatment parameters. This review summarizes the known effects of ultrasonic treatments in modifying starches, flours and grains.

Starch is the most abundant carbohydrate in legumes (22–45 g/100 g), with distinctive properties such as high amylose and resistant starch content, longer branch chains of amylopectin, and a C-type pattern arrangement in the granules. The present study concentrated on the investigation of hydrolyzed faba bean starch using acid, assisted by microwave energy, to obtain a possible food-grade coating material. For evaluation, the physicochemical, morphological, pasting, and structural properties were analyzed. Hydrolyzed starches developed by microwave energy in an acid medium had low viscosity, high solubility indexes, diverse amylose contents, resistant starch, and desirable thermal and structural properties to be used as a coating material. The severe conditions (moisture, 40%; pure hydrochloric acid, 4 mL/100 mL; time, 60 s; and power level, 6) of microwave-treated starches resulted in low viscosity values, high amylose content and high solubility, as well as high absorption indexes, and reducing sugars. These hydrolyzed starches have the potential to produce matrices with thermo-protectants to formulate prebiotic/probiotic (symbiotic) combinations and amylose-based inclusion complexes for functional compound delivery. This emergent technology, a dry hydrolysis route, uses much less energy consumption in a shorter reaction time and without effluents to the environment compared to conventional hydrolysis.

The interest in plant-based products is growing in Western countries, mostly due to health and environmental issues that arise from the consumption and production of animal-based food products. Many vegan products today are made from soy, but drawbacks include the challenges of cultivating soy in colder climates such as northern Europe. Therefore, the present study investigates whether industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) could substitute soy in the production of high moisture meat analogues (HMMA). A twin screw co-rotating extruder was used to investigate to what extent hemp protein concentrate (HPC) could replace soy protein isolate (SPI) in HMMAs. The substitution levels of HPC were 20 wt%, 40 wt% and 60 wt%. Pasting properties and melting temperature of the protein powders were characterized by Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), respectively and the produced HMMA was analysed by determining the texture and colour attributes. The results showed that it is possible to extrude a mixture with up to 60% HPC. HPC absorbed less water and needed a higher denaturing temperature compared to SPI. Increasing the moisture content by 5% would have resulted in a reduction of hardness and chewiness. The lightness (L* value) was found to be significantly higher in SPI product and decreased in the mixture with higher HPC (p < 0.05).