Cereal Chem 49:5 - 19.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Scanning Electron Microscopy of the Endosperm of Malted Barley.

Y. Pomeranz. Copyright 1972 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Changes in the aleurone layer and in the starchy endosperm of steeped, malted, and kilned barley were followed by scanning electron microscopy. The surface of aleurone cells in steeped barley was highly pitted. The walls of aleurone cells were progressively degraded during malting and kilning. Increase in diameter of aleurone grains during steeping was followed by further distortion of the spherical granules during kilning. Partial breakdown of cell-walls in the center of the starchy endosperm of malted barley was accompanied by extensive dissolution of the protein matrix and "freeing" of small starch granules that were previously embedded in that matrix; the effect on the appearance of the starch granules was small. In the central endosperm of kilned barley malt, the cell-wall dissolution was extensive and was accompanied by mechanical breakdown of the large starch granules.