Cereal Chem 42:476 - 484.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Gel Formation As Related to Concentration of Amylose and Degree of Starch Swelling.

M. Ott and E. E. Hester. Copyright 1965 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The amount of soluble amylose needed for gel structure, in relation to degree of swelling and relative size of hydrated starch granules, has been investigated. Amylose, prepared from defatted corn starch, was added in various amounts to an unmodified waxy (amylopectin) corn and to two waxy corn starches phosphate- bonded to different degrees. The amount of amylose needed for gels of equivalent strength was about three times greater in the absence of amylopectin granules than in the presence of well-hydrated and intact granules. Results confirmed the twofold role of soluble amylose in gel formation: 1) as the chief material that forms the gel network which entraps unabsorbed water; and 2) as a binding material that links together intact starch granules or fragments. The swelling pattern of starch granules appears to determine which role of the linear fraction is most significant.