Starch

Starch is composed of linear amylose and branched amylopectin that are bonded by glycosidic bonds, a
type of covalent bond, along with hydrogen bonds (Raguin, 2017). The shapes and how the chains of
monomers coil or layout affect how amylose or amylopectin react with water and their ability to slow
down the movement of fluids. There are many forms or types of starch that can be used towards various
techniques in the culinary field, as well as the pharmaceutical industry. Depending on what the purpose
or need for a starch will decide which starch is the best option. Common starches that can be found in
kitchens include; flours, corn starch, waxy maize, potato, tapioca, pea, and rice starch.

One thing to consider when using a starch is starch gelatinization. This means either heat or water has
been applied to the starch causing the starch molecules to swell, bonds break, breakdown, and/or
realign themselves. Once the starch cools the spirals, branches, helices, chains, and bonds of the
amylopectin and amylose try get back to the same structure they were before. However, it they will not
be able to get to be completely the same before gelatinization. This all leading to starch retrogradation
or in other words staleness. This commonly occurs in breads or baked goods when cooked in the oven,
they will be harder than before the heating process. The culinary application is for some things such as
crostini or biscotti, starch retrogradation is wanted to add more heat to an already baked good to have
an end product that is crunchy. In study found in the Journal of Food Science, tea polyphenols were used
to retard the retrogradation of starch in cooked products (Wu, 2014).

An advantage for using starches is their high tolerance towards salts and varying pH. Most starches can
withstand being in an acidic and/or alkaline solution with general pHs of foods. Starches can be used in
food packaging to diminish water activity permeating into the packaged food by creating a thin film of
starch on the inside lining of the package (Choi, 2016). The lining is able to hold up to salty or acidic
foods without deteriorating over time.

Starch is used in dredges or mixes for fried foods to avoid excess oil absorption. The advantage for this is
for healthier options of fried foods. A study was conducted to see how baked chicken nuggets would
absorb oil depending on the starch dredge that was used prior to baking (Purcell, 2014).

Another usage of starch is in the pharmaceutical industry for encapsulation of medicine and/or vitamins
(CANO-HIGUITA, 2015). The starch is used in the capsules because they can be digested in the stomach
but remain intact while in the packaging.

In my opinion starches are useful for culinary applications if used in the correct way. They can be used
for thickening, encapsulating, healthier options, under unneutral conditions, with salts, and as a
preservation medium. Starches are useful in their ability to try to reform after gelatinization.

References

CANO-HIGUITA, D. M., MALACRIDA, C. R., & TELIS, V. N. (2015). STABILITY OF CURCUMIN

MICROENCAPSULATED BY SPRAY AND FREEZE DRYING IN BINARY AND TERNARY MATRICES OF
MALTODEXTRIN, GUM ARABIC AND MODIFIED STARCH. Journal Of Food Processing &
Preservation, 39(6), 2049-2060. doi:10.1111/jfpp.12448
Choi, W.S., Patel, D. and Han, J.H. (2016), Effects of pH and Salts on Physical and Mechanical Properties
of Pea Starch Films. Journal of Food Science, 81: E1716–E1725. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.13342

Malucelli, L. C., Lacerda, L. G., Silva da Carvalho Filho, M. A., Rodriguez, D. E., Demiate, I. M., Oliveira, C.
S., & Schnitzler, E. (2015). Porous waxy maize starch; Thermal, structural and viscographic
properties of modified granules obtained by enzyme treatment. Springer, 120.1(Apr), 525.
Retrieved January 09, 2018, from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/pdfGenerator?tabID=T002&actionCmd=DO_DOWNLOAD_DOCUME
NT&docId=GALE%7CA424715870&userGroupName=nysl_se_culam&inPS=true&prodId=AONE

Purcell, S., Wang, Y.-J. and Seo, H.-S. (2014), Application of Oxidized Starch in Bake-Only Chicken
Nuggets. Journal of Food Science, 79: C810–C815. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.12466

Raguin, A., & Ebenhöh, O. (2017). Design starch: stochastic modeling of starch granule biogenesis.
Biochemical Society Transactions, 45(4), 885-893. doi:10.1042/BST20160407

Wu, L., Che, L. and Chen, X. D. (2014), Antiretrogradation in Cooked Starch-Based Product Application of
Tea Polyphenols. Journal of Food Science, 79: E1984–C1990. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.12589