Tropical Sources of Starches

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3. Other starches

  1. Other minor root starches

    1. Arrowroot

      The starch granules are round or polygonal in shape and possess ‘A’ XRD pattern. The amylose content ranges from 16-27%. The starch has a pasting temperature of 75-92°C and the DSC values are Tonset :68.5°C, Tend :85°C. Gelatinisation enthalpy is 4.4J/g 23 which appears to be too low. The reported swelling volume for the starch is 23ml/g.

    2. Pacchyrrhizus

      The granules are round, cupoliform or polyhedral with size range of 6-35um. The starch has ‘A’ diffraction pattern , amylose content of 17-25% 18 , gelatinisation temperature of 63-76°C by DSC and DH of 13.65J/g 18. It gives a viscosity of 600 BU for 5% paste and breakdown is less than 100BU and has low set back viscosity.

    3. Arracacha

      Arracacha, Peruvian carrot, Arracacia xanthorrhiza. The starch granules are similar to cassava starch granules, and spherical or ovoid in shape, with size range of 5-27mu. The starch contains very little amylose and hence is a source of high amylopectin starch. The starch is easily digestible and hence finds importance in food applications 69,70.

    4. Chinese water chestnut

      Starch grains round or irregular have a size upto 27um The starch finds use in canned foods because of good digestibility.

    5. East Indian arrowroot

      The starch extracted is pure white similar to cassava and arrowroot. Grains are polyhedrons or hemisphere and 8-40 um in size.

    6. Giant taro

      The starch grains are small, irregular with 1-5 um in size. The amylose content is approximately 21%

    7. Coleus

      The starch granules are round or oval with a size range of 4-46um. The amylose content is higher compared to other tuber starches viz. 33%. It has a swelling volume of 33 ml/g.

    8. Lotus root

      The starch grains are long and elongated and are rather big in size 65-100um.

    9. Queensland arrowroot

      The starch is characterised by its high phosphorus content and hence possesses high viscosity. The granules are oval or polyhedral in shape and have size range of 5-44um. It gives ‘B’ XRD pattern. The amylose content is quite high (28%). The pasting temperature ranges from 65-95°C and DSC values for Tonset and Tend are 65 and 85°C respectively. The starch has very high viscosity and can be attributed to the high P content in the starch. The starch forms a strong gel even at 3% concentration and has excellent application as food grade starch. 70

    10. Shoti

      This starch is similar to Coleus starch in view of its high P content. The granules are elliptical in shape 14-42um in size. It gives ‘B’ XRD pattern, has an amylose content of 25-28%. The swelling volume is 19-30 ml/g and solubility of 11-23%. The DSC values are 74-79°C for T onset and 82-97°C for Tend. DH is 16-17J/g. The starch possesses very high viscosity and gel strength and hence very useful in food applications. 71

    11. Swamp taro

      Starch granules are round or angular and 4-18um in size

      The starch properties of non-tuber sources have also been studied, and the available data is presented below.

    12. Breadfruit.

      Tumalii and Wootton 72 have studied the starch properties of seven varieties of Breadfruit. The dry pulp contains nearly 77% starch and easily extractable. The granules had a size range of 0.5-36 um ( average 3-5um ) in an image analyser. The starch possesses a ‘B’ XRD pattern. The starch has a two stage swelling and the swelling power varied from 13-31 g/g at 90C. The solubility varied from 8-22% among the varieties. The 8% Brabender viscosity value was 2400 (Peak) with around 300 BU breakdown and low setback. Amylose content was 16-22%. Adewusi 73 has reported lipid content of 0.17% and similar amylase content but much lower swelling and solubility.

    13. Sago

      Sim et al 74 have examined starch properties of sago starch. The granules are ellipsoidal in shape with pits at one or both ends. The amylose content is 31% – higher compared to many other starches. The unit chain length (20-23) was similar to cereal and potato starches. The starch exhibited two stage swelling and at 95°C , the swelling was nearly 90 while solubility was 40-60 % at the same temperature. The 5% starch paste had a PV of 590 BU but showed only low breakdown or setback.

    14. Mango

      Starch yield from the seeds is around 21% and the starch has a fat content of 0.36% The average granular size is 17um and round in shape. The unit chain length is 19. The starch has a swelling of 212% at 95°C C with a solubility of 32% at the same temperature. The viscosity was found to be 192cP, slightly lower than cassava starch. The gelatinisation temperature was similar to cassava and sweet potato starches.75

    15. Amaranthus

      Many reports are available on this starch. The starch content is over 60% in the dry seeds The reported fat content varied from 0.05% to a quite high value of 1.8%. The granules are very small almost ten times as small as maize starch with angular polygonal in shape. Most of the species have very low amylose content and hence can serve as source of waxy starch. The starch possesses ‘A’ XRD pattern with strong peaks showing high crystallinity. Conflicting reports are available on swelling and solubility. Whereas Stone and Lorenz 76 found only 10 % swelling, Paredez-Lopez 77 found much higher values for swelling. The solubility vales reported range from 33 to 80% at 95°C. The DSC data on the starch show Tonset of 68-71° C , T peak of 78°C and Tend of 87°C and a DH of 12-14J/g. The starch has a pasting temperature of 67°C , PV of 400-540 BU at 8% concentration, with around 40 % breakdown and a small setback. Clarity of the starch paste is not very good 78. The in vitro digestibility of the starch is quite high > 65% 79,80. The synerisis of the starch is lower than that of corn during storage in the cold and hence can be used in many food items. Hoover et al 79 also found that environmental and varietal effects play a part in deciding starch properties. Stone and Lorenz 76 found that bread and cake quality were not good on using this starch. Singhal and Kulkarni 78 suggest that high paste viscosity, freeze thaw stability and stability under pressure cooking indicate its use in frozen and canned foods. Similarly, the starch will be useful in salad dressing where finely divided oil-in-water emulsion is formed . On the other hand, low paste clarity and poor stability under acidic conditions limit their food applications.

    16. Tacca

      starch granules are tiny compared to many other starches, the average size being 3.5um and possess polyhedral edges. No hilum is visble. The amylose content is similar to most other starches viz., 22.5%. The pasting temperature is 72-75°C The swelling power is quite high similar to other tuber starches. The solubility is high compared to potato starch and may be due to weak associate forces. Clarity is lower compared to potato or maize starches. This starch may have good applicability in tablet production in view of smaller grains.

    17. Plantain

      Unripe plantain contains around 88.6% starch in its flour and the flour is used in baby foods as a source of energy. The granules have irregular shape sheroid or elongated with a size of 10-50um. Lii et al 81 studied the granule size during the growth period , but most granules were in the range 20-60 um. The fat content is 0.09 to 0.33% and phosphorus content is very low, The starch possseses a B XRD pattern. DSC results showed a wide variation among the varieties but most of the starches had T onset around 65°C , Tend 78°C and DH of 10-13J/g 82. It has very high gel strength (182Kg/cm compared to maize 13Kg/cm. The starch has restricted swelling power and solubilities showed similar trend. The gelatinisation temperature was 75-81°C. The peak viscosity is double that of corn at similar concentration and the breakdown is almost nil. The set back is low. Mota etal 82 found variability in RVA values for the different varieties. In view of low breakdown and high gel strength, it can serve as good source of starch for food applications.

    18. Okenia

      Sanchez_Hernandez et al 83 obtained 36% starch yield from the seeds,. The granules are round with a diameter of 1-3um, showing it be another small granule source and hence useful in many special applications. The fat content in starch is 0.18% much lower than maize starch. The swelling and solubility are in the range of 20g/g and 19% respectively at 100°C . The starch does not have good freeze thaw stability indicating it may not be good for frozen foods. Clarity is similar to maize starch paste.

    19. Quinoa

      The starch granules are polygonal and extremely small 0.4-2um The fat content in the starch is 0.11% and amylose content is very low 9-11 84. The gelatinisation temperatures is 61 -68° C. The swelling power is 20 at 95° C while solubility is only 4% showing it to be very strong in associative forces. The Brabender Viscosity value for 5% paste showed high values: 980 BU for peak, and 1900 BU for cold paste indicating high setback. Lorenz 85 found that the thickening power of the starch was better than many other starches as indicated by the result that the filling prepared from the this starch had highest viscosity after 5 days. However cakes and bread made from this starch were poor in quality.

    20. Cereals

    21. Enset

      starch contains relatively high quantity of lipid viz. 0.25 %. The granules are angular and elliptical with an average granular size of 44um . Gebre-Mariam and Schmidt 86 have also observed granular distribution of this starch to be similar to potato starch. The starch possesses B XRD pattern. The amylose content is 29%, the swelling power is 80 at 85° C while solubility at the same temperature is 37%. The starch has an Tonset of 61.8°C Tpeak of 65.2°C and Tend71.7°C. The DH is 21.6 J/g which appears quite high compared to other starches. The Brabender Viscosity values (6%) of this starch are PV-884, VH 6090, Vc 1045BU. The breakdown and setback being higher than maize but lower than potato pr cassava starches. The low breakdown of the starch paste indicates it can be used as a food starch in products requiring low cohesiveness.

    22. Sorghum

      The starch contains quite large quantity of lipids as can be expected for cereal starches. Wankhede 87 obtained a value of 1.2% for one Indian variety. The granules are round or polygonal in shape with the size ranging 8-20um thus being quite small. Stark et al 88 did not observe any difference in gelatinisation pattern between smaller and larger granules. The reported amylose content varies from 21-30%. The starch has a swelling power of 15 at 90° C while solubility is nearly 20% at this temperature. The gelatinisation temperature ranges from 68-78°C and pasting temperauture is 75.5° C. The 8% starch paste has a PV of 800, VH 420 and Vc of 1228 BU respectively indicating high breakdown and very high setback similar to cereal starches. Native and gelatinised starch had amylase digestibility of 55-60% and 70% respectively . The good digestibility and small granular size is helpful in its use.in food.

    23. Tef

      Bultosa et al 89 have studied starch properties of five varieties. The starch granules are polygonal in shape and have a size range of 2-6 um similar to most cereal starches. SEM revealed the granules to be smooth. . The amylose content was 27-28% for the varieties by iodimetry and Concavlin precipitation methods. The gelatinisation temperature was 67-80°C. by microscopy, thus being similar to rice starch. RVA analyses showed a value of around 74 °C for pasting temperature, 250-190 RVU for Peak Viscosity, 170-200 for Hot paste viscosity and 280-300 for cold viscosity. The results show very low breakdown and setback. The values are lower than those for maize starches. The starch can be useful in foods requiring long duration of storage.

    24. Other starches

      1. Bamboo

        The starch extracted from the culm of bamboo from Mexico had a fat content of 0.31% and amylose content of 24%. The granules are polygonal ranging in size from 1-12um, thus being comparatively small. The starch has a gelatinisation temperature of 63- 67°C similar to cassava starch. The starch has a low viscosity and even at 12% the peak viscosity is only around 400BU. The starch has low level of breakdown and very little set back. The swelling power and solubility are very low (< 5) below 80°C. However the solubility increases at high temperatures 90

      2. Black pepper

        contains 28-49% starch and Malabar varieties have maximum starch content. Bhat and Tharanathan 91 have examined the starch properties. The starch granules are extremely small (2-2.5um) much smaller than rice or corn starches. SEM revealed hexagonal and polygonal shapes and smooth surfaces. The amylose content is low : 17-18% . The gelatinisation temperatures determined microscopically was 70-75°C. The 10% starch paste has a peak viscosity of 530 BU reducing to 455BU at holding and reaching 550BU on cooling indicating low viscosity, breakdown and setback for the starch. Swelling power was quite low (<15) while solubility increases at temperatures above 70C. Thestarch had low amylase digestibility (< 30%). Bhat and Tharanathan 91 suggest that the strength of granules under mechanical shear and low breakdown and setback can make this starch very useful in food applications.

      3. Buffao gourd

        Starch from three varieties of the starch revealed that the starch contains upto 1.14% crude lipids 92. The granules range in size from 2-24um, average being 9um. XRD pattern is ‘ B’ for the starch. The amylose content is similar to most other starches viz. 21-23%. Gelatinisation temperatures are in the range 59-69C. The swelling power varied from 14-26% while the solubility was 8-15%. The brookfield viscosity of 4% starch paste was as follows : initial pasting temperature 66-81, maximum viscosity of 12-15 Poises and very little breakdown or setback. The low swelling power solubility and viscosity indicate strong associative forces in the molecules.

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