Preparation and Characterization of Tea Polyphenols/Starch Inclusion Complex

In order to improving the stability and bioavailability of tea polyphenols (TP), the TP/starchinclusion complex(TPSIC) was prepared by adding TP to starch slurry during gelatinization, and its TPreleasing behaviorswas investigated. The formation of inclusion complex was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The TPSIC showed a characteristic of V-type crystallinity and a looser gel matrix. The encapsulation increased the stability of TP and generated a good releasing behavior after enzymatic erosion. The lower releasing rate indicated that the prepared inclusion complexes had good retention ability and effectively reduced the releasing rate of TP. The releasing rate of TPSIC increased with the increase of TP concentration.

Quality dynamics of maize 'tuwo' (non-fermented maize-based dumpling) as influenced by steaming of maize grits at different resident time

This study was aimed at investigating the influence of starch pregelatinisation of maize flour, through grit steaming, on the quality characteristics of maize tuwo (non-fermented food dumpling). Maize grits were variously steamed, batchwise, for a period of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min respectively from which flour was obtained. The damaged starch value (13.4-16.2 %) of the pregelatinised maize flour increased with an increase in the steaming duration while that from 0-min steaming period was 12.2 %. The water absorption capacity (3.2-3.7 g/g) and oil absorption capacity (2.1-2.5 g/g) of the pregelatinised maize flour increased with an increase in the steaming duration while those from 0-min steaming period were 2.1 g/g and 2.0 g/g respectively. The pasting variables were found to decrease with an increase in the steaming duration include the peak viscosity (80.5-106.1 RVU), breakdown viscosity (17.9-23.1 RVU), final viscosity (102.4-136.8 RVU), setback-I (41.9-56.6 RVU) and setback-II (21.9-35.5 RVU) while those from 0-min steaming period were 108.3, 36.9, 147.4, 76.0 and 39.1 RVU respectively. The colour characteristics of maize flours and tuwo showed that the L*-value of the flours (85.2-88.7) and tuwo (65.1-67.2) decreased with an increase in the steaming duration while those from 0-min steaming period were 90.0 and 67.7 respectively. The rheological properties of maize tuwo showed that the strain at peak, taken as the cohesiveness index of the food product, ranged between 18.0 and 21.7 % while that from 0-min steaming period was 15.4 %. The softness index of the food product also ranged between 17.5 mm and 17.9 mm while that from 0-min steaming period was 17.4 mm. The sensory quality rating of maize tuwo prepared from the pregelatinised flour showed that the food product obtained from the 30-min steaming duration was rated the highest in terms of texture (mouldability), taste and overall acceptability.

Studies on the hydrothermal modifications of new cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) starch

Native new cocoyam starch (nNCS) was subjected to annealing (aNCS) and heat moisture treatment at 18% moisture level (h18NCS), 21% moisture level (h21NCS), 24% moisture level (h24NCS) and 27% moisture level (h27NCS) as hydrothermal treatments. Scanning electron and light microscopy revealed round and polygonal shapes with sizes ranging from 15 to 40 microm for native and modified starches. nNCS showed "A" pattern X-ray diffraction and no significant differences were observed in the X-ray pattern of the modified starches. Swelling power and solubility reduced following heat moisture treatment. At all pH studied (2-12), unmodified new cocoyam starch exhibited higher swelling capacity and solubility than the modified derivatives. Hydrothermal modifications improved water absorption capacity but reduced oil absorption capacity. Pasting temperature of native starch shifted to higher values following annealing and heat moisture treatment. Hot paste viscosity (Hv), viscosity after 30 min holding at 95 degrees C (Hv30) and cold paste viscosity (Cv) reduced after annealing and heat moisture treatment. The result also indicates that hydrothermal treatments reduced the tendency for setback. As the number of days of storage of starch paste increased from 1 to 10, light transmittance of all the starches reduced but marked reduction of light transmittance was observed in native starch. DSC studies revealed increase in gelatinization temperature following annealing and heat moisture treatment. Starch hydrothermal modifications reduced retrogradation as enthalpies of regelatinization reduced following modifications. The regelatinization peak in the second day scanning shifted to lower temperature than the gelatinization peak in first run heating DSC curve for all samples. The regelatinization peak also became larger and shifted to higher temperature range when the storage days increased from 2 to 7.