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Partial Characterization of Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) Starch

¹Graduate research assistant and associate professor, respectively, Department of Cereal Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105. ²Present address: Kerry Ingredients, Beloit, WI. ³Present address: Food and Agricultural Products Research and Technology Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74078. ⁴Corresponding author. E-mail: rayasdu@okway.okstate.edu Fax: 405/744-6313. ⁵Research chemist, USDA-ARS, Hard Red Spring and Durum Wheat Quality Laboratory, Fargo, ND 58105.

Laboratory-isolated buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) starch was compared to commercial corn and wheat starches. Buckwheat starch granules (2.9–9.3 μm) were round and polygonal with some holes and pits on the surface. Buckwheat starch had higher amylose content, waterbinding capacity, and peak viscosity, and it had lower intrinsic viscosity when compared with corn and wheat starches. Buckwheat starch also showed restricted swelling power at 85–95°C and lower solubility in water at 55–95°C and was more susceptible to acid and enzymatic attack. Gelatinization temperatures, determined by differential scanning calorimetry, were 61.1–80.1°C for buckwheat starch compared to 64.7–79.2°C and 57.1–73.5°C for corn and wheat starches, respectively. A second endotherm observed at 84.5°C was an amylose-lipid complex attributed to the internal lipids in buckwheat starch, as evidenced by selective extraction. The retrogradation of buckwheat, corn, and wheat starch gels was examined after storage at 25, 4, and -12°C for 1–15 days. In general, buckwheat starch retrogradation was slower than that of corn and wheat starch, but it increased as storage time increased, as did that of the other starch pastes. When the values of the three storage temperatures were averaged for each storage period analyzed, buckwheat starch gels showed a lower percentage of retrogradation than did corn and wheat starch gels. Buckwheat starch also had a lower percentage of water syneresis when stored at 4°C for 3–10 days and had better stability to syneresis after three freeze-thaw cycles at -12 and 25°C.