Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Heat-moisture treatment eects on sweetpotato starches diering

in amylose content
Lilia S. Collado, Harold Corke*
Cereal Science Laboratory, Department of Botany, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Received 9 February 1998; received in revised form; accepted 28 September 1998

Abstract
Sweetpotato starch from two genotypes, Taiwan (15.2% amylose) and 93-006 (28.5% amylose), were exposed to heat-moisture
treatment (HMT) of 25% moisture at 110 C for various exposure times at `as-is' (pH 6.56.7) and alkaline pH (pH 10) conditions.
In both starch samples at `as-is' pH, there was a shift from a Type A pasting prole (characterized by a high to moderate pasting
peak, major breakdown after holding time at 95 C and low cold paste viscosity) to a Type C pasting prole (characterized by lack
of a pasting peak and no breakdown, with high cold paste viscosity in 93-006; and a slight breakdown in Taiwan). With HMT at
pH 10, the pasting peak viscosity was increased and low hot paste viscosities and high cold paste viscosities were observed. Under
both pH conditions after HMT, there were marked increases in gelatinization temperatures and broadening of the DSC gelatinization endotherms, and considerable decreases in swelling volume and solubilities. Gel textures of HMT starch samples appeared to
be related to amylose content. Taiwan starch gel had a marked increase in hardness and adhesiveness, while that of 93-006 did not
show signicant dierences in hardness after HMT. Both starch samples showed a marked reduction in resilience, indicating a shift
from a long stringy nature to short paste consistency. Starch gels exposed to HMT under alkaline conditions showed a high degree
of syneresis. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Temperature and moisture contents during processing of starch are easily varied intentionally or unintentionally and can alter its functional properties. The
term `hydrothermal treatment' was used by Stute (1992)
to describe physical modication of starch resulting
from combinations of moisture and temperature conditions which aect its properties without visible changes
in granule appearance. Physical modication of starch
slurries in excess water at temperatures below gelatinization is referred to as annealing. Such conditions are
often applied/encountered in the preparation of starches.
Studies on annealing of wheat, corn, amaranth, oat,
potato and lentil starches have been conducted (Hoover
& Vasanthan, 1994; Jacobs, Eerlingen, Clauwaert, &
Delcour, 1995; Knutson, 1990; Krueger, Knutson,
Inglett, & Walker, 1987; Larsson & Eliasson, 1991;
Paredes-Lopez, Schevenin, Hernandez-Lopez, & Carabez-Trejo, 1989; Stute, 1992; Yost & Hoseney, 1986).
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2857-8522; Fax: +852-28578521; E-mail: [email protected]

In contrast, heat-moisture treatment (HMT), refers to

the exposure of starch to higher temperatures, commonly above the gelatinization temperature, at very
restricted moisture content (1827%). Studies have been
conducted on corn, cassava, wheat, oat, barley, triticale
and lentil starches (Abraham, 1993; Donovan, Lorenz,
& Kulp, 1983; Hoover & Manuel, 1996; Hoover &
Vasanthan, 1994; Kulp & Lorenz, 1981; Kurakake,
Tachibana, Masaki, & Komaki, 1996; Maruta et al.,
1994; Sair, 1964; Stute, 1992). The general eects of
hydrothermal treatments are increased gelatinization
temperatures, and changes in gelatinization range (narrowing or broadening of the DSC endotherms), X-ray
diraction patterns, swelling volume and solubility,
with consequent changes in functionality.
Early work on hydrothermal treatments was done on
potato starch intended to replace corn in times of
shortage (Stute, 1992). Abraham (1993) noted that
HMT cassava starch had excellent freeze-thaw stability
and could be used in pie lling with good organoleptic
properties. Lorenz and Kulp (1981) found that HMT
improved the bread and cake baking quality of potato
starch but decreased that of wheat starch. In many

0308-8146/99/$see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0308 -8 146(98)00228 -3

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L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Asian foods, an alkali (often termed `kansui') is added

for the development of desirable color and texture such
as in Cantonese noodles (Moss, Miskelly, & Moss,
1986) as well as to neutralize acids from fermentation,
as in the case of steamed bread (Ding & Zheng, 1991;
Huang & Miskelly, 1991), and rice cakes (Juliano, 1993;
Juliano & Sakurai, 1983). In a survey of starch pearls
from Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, a wide
range of pH was observed (Collado & Corke, 1998), and
it seems that high pH is benecial to the formation of
the starch pearl structure.
The aim of this study was to determine the eect of
HMT under `as-is' pH (6.56.7) and alkaline (pH 10)
conditions on sweetpotato starch pasting properties,
gelatinization temperature, swelling volume, solubility
and gel texture.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Samples
Starch was puried from two genotypes of sweetpotato obtained from the International Potato Center,
Philippines, as in Collado and Corke (1997). The two
genotypes, Taiwan and 93-006, had starches of dierent
amylose contents (15.2 and 28.5%, respectively) and
diered in pasting proles.
2.2. Heat-moisture treatment
For HMT in water, the samples were adjusted to 25%
moisture, equilibrated at 45 C overnight, and placed in
a covered Petri dish for 4, 8 and 16 h at 110 C. The
samples were shaken occasionally for even distribution
of heat. For HMT under alkaline conditions, the starch
was mixed with kansui solution (9:1 Na2CO3: K2CO3)
adjusted to give 25% moisture content and 1% kansui
concentration based on starch weight. Samples were
then equilibrated and treated as for the water treatment.
After HMT, the starches were dried at 50 C overnight.
Untreated samples were used as controls.
2.3. Analytical methods
2.3.1. Pasting properties
A Rapid Visco-Analyzer Model 3-D (RVA) (Newport Scientic Pty Ltd., Warriewood, Australia) was
used to determine RVA viscoamylographs of the samples at 11% starch concentration. 3.0 g starch (14%
m.b.) was mixed with distilled water to make a total
weight of 28 g in the RVA sample canister. A programmed heating and cooling cycle was used at constant shear rate, where the sample was held at 50 C for
1 min, heated to 95 C in 7.5 min, held at 95 C for 5.5
min, cooled to 50 C in 7.5 min, and then held at 50 C

for 5 min. Duplicate tests were used in each case. Peak

viscosity (PV), time to reach PV (Ptime), temperature at
PV (Ptemp), hot paste viscosity or viscosity after the
holding time at 95 C (HPV), and cool paste viscosity or
the viscosity at the end of the hold time at 50 C (CPV)
were recorded.
2.3.2. Swelling volume
Swelling volume (Crosbie, 1991) was determined by
weighing 0.35 g (d.b.) sweetpotato starch into 12516
mm Pyrex tubes to which 12.5 ml of water was added.
The tubes were equilibrated at 25 C for 5 min, transferred to a 92.5 C waterbath and mixed in a prescribed
schedule for 30 min. Samples were cooled in ice water
for 1 min, placed in a 25 C bath for 5 min and centrifuged at 1000 g for 15 min. The height of the gel was
measured and converted to volume of gel per unit dry
weight of the sample. An aliquot of supernatant was
analyzed for total carbohydrate content by the phenolsulfuric method (Dubois, Gilles, Hamilton, Rebers, &
Smith, 1956).
2.3.3. Starch gel texture
Texture Prole Analysis (TPA) was done on the
starch gel after the RVA viscoamylograph determination. The RVA paddle was removed and the canister
was covered with Paralm2. The gel set at room temperature (RT) (2022 C); then it was stored at 4 C
overnight and equilibrated at RT for 4 h. A texture
prole analysis with fracture was done to a distance of
10 mm at a speed and post speed of 1 mm/s using a 5
mm diameter Bakelite2 cylindrical probe, using a TAXT2 texture analyzer (Stable Micro Systems, Godalming, UK). Hardness, adhesiveness and resilience
were recorded. Hardness is dened as the maximum
force (g), and adhesiveness (gs) as the area of the negative curve as the probe moves back to initial position.
Resilience is the positive area as the probe returns to
original position over the area of curve as the probe
moves to target distance in the gel [Fig. 4(A), (B), see
below]. The 5 mm probe was chosen from prior experience to give an indication of both adhesiveness and
fracture behavior of the material such as may be
experienced in biting, and is related to the properties of
major products such as sweetpotato starch noodles, that
are expected to be made from these starches.
2.3.4. Thermal characteristics
Gelatinization characteristics were determined with a
Mettler DSC-20 Dierential Scanning Calorimeter
(Mettler-Toledo AG Instruments, Naenikon-Uster,
Switzerland). Starch samples (2.5 mg, d.b.) were placed
in aluminum crucibles; distilled water was added to
make a 1:3 (w/w) starch:water, mix, and the crucible
was sealed. The gelatinization peak temperature (Tp,

C) and enthalpy (
H, J/g) were determined.

L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

341

2.3.5. Statistical analysis

All analyses were done in duplicate. Analysis of variance was performed to calculate signicant dierences
in treatment means, and LSD (p<0.05) was used to
separate means (SAS, 1988).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Pasting properties
The RVA viscoamylograph of native Taiwan starch
under `as-is' pH condition, was a Type A pasting prole
(as dened by Schoch & Maywald, 1968) characterized
by a high PV (430 RVU), with high breakdown and low
CPV (278 RVU). After HMT, there was a marked
decrease in the PV (268 RVU), a very slight breakdown,
and an increase in CPV (385 RVU), more like a Type C
pasting prole. The same trend was observed with 8 h
HMT exposure but, with 16 h, a lower PV, low HPV
and low CPV resulted [Table 1, Fig. 1(A)]. This contrasted with the result in 93-006 where, after exposure to
HMT for 4 to 16 h, there was no denable PV and
breakdown, and the CPV increased from 255 RVU in
the untreated sample to 555 RVU with 16 h HMT
exposure [Table 1, Fig. 1(B)].
With hydrothermal treatments, whether done in
excess water (starch suspension) or below 30% (no free
water), the general eect on pasting properties is lower
peak viscosities, less breakdown and higher cold paste
viscosities for potato starch (Stute, 1992). However,
Jacobs et al. (1995) found that changes in pasting
properties, after annealing at 34 C lower than gelatinization temperature for 24 h, were dierent in starches
from dierent botanical sources. Potato starch had
lower peak viscosities and higher cold paste viscosities
while wheat and rice starches had higher peak viscosities

Fig. 1. The RVA viscoamylograph of sweetpotato starch from genotype Taiwan before and after heat-moisture treatment at dierent
exposure times: (A) under `as-is' pH; (B) at pH 10. RVUrapid viscosity units.

and cold paste viscosities. In the case of HMT, there

was a consistent decrease of Brabender pasting viscosities at 95 C after 30 min holding time as observed for
normal maize, amylomaize (Hoover & Manuel, 1996),
potato (Hoover & Vasanthan, 1994; Kulp & Lorenz,
1981; Stute, 1992), oat, lentil, yam starches (Hoover &

Table 1
The mean RVA pasting parameters of 11% starch concentration from sweetpotato starch exposed to heat moisture treatment under dierent pH
conditions
Taiwan
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

`As-is' pH
PV (RVU) Ptime (min) Ptemp ( C) HPV (RVU)
430 a
268 b
301 c
236 d

6.8 b
10.0 a
10.0 a
8.1 b

93-006
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

pH 10

83.9 c
95.0 a
95.0 a
91.5 b

196 b
256 ab
283 a
164 b

CPV (RVU) PV (RVU) Ptime (min) Ptemp ( C) HPV (RVU)

278 c
385 b
405 a
232 d

461 a
269 d
324 c
381 b

7.1 d
10.0 a
9.1 b
8.5 c

`As-is' pH

6.4

80.9

143 d
174 b
380 c
197 a

344 d
399 b
440 a

pH 10

PV (RVU) Ptime (min) Ptemp ( C) HPV (RVU)

321

85.5 c
94.9 a
94.7 a57 c
93.7 b

CPV (RVU)

160 d
306 c
320 b
346 a

CPV (RVU) PV (RVU) Ptime (min) Ptemp ( C) HPV (RVU)

255 c
478 b
496 b
555 a

490 a
254 c
264 c
373 b

7.5 d
9.6 b
10.0 a
8.9 c

87.4 c
94.9 ab
94.9 b
94.5 b

154 c
151 c
170 b
184 a

Means with the same letter in a column within each genotype are not signicantly dierent (p<0.05). RVUrapid viscosity units.

CPV (RVU)
427 b
382 c
399 d
481 a

342

L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Vasanthan) and cassava (Abraham, 1993). However

pasting properties of waxy maize seemed to be unaffected by HMT (Hoover & Manuel, 1996).
Hydrothermal treatment may make the granules
resistant to deformation by strengthening the intragranular binding forces (Stute, 1992), and it was speculated that, in annealed starch, swollen gelatinized
granules were more rigid, contributing signicantly to
high cold paste viscosities. Annealed and native starch,
when pasted in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), gave the
same cold paste viscosities (Jacobs et al., 1995). The
signicant contribution of swollen granules to the viscosity
of the starch paste is clearly seen in waxy potato starch,
which does not form swollen granules upon gelatinization and immediately transforms into a macromolecular
solution which is long and stringy with a very low viscosity. In normal potato starch, overcooking at higher
temperatures than gelatinization (120 C) is needed to
remove remnants of the swollen granules and viscosity
is drastically reduced (Hermansson & Svegmark, 1996).
Under alkaline conditions, HMT had a dierent
eect on the pasting prole. The short exposure time, 4
h, eected a lower peak viscosity but as exposure time
was increased, higher PV was observed [Table 1,
Figs. 1(B) and 2(B)]. The alkaline condition gave a free

swelling nature to the native starch but had a more

pronounced eect on 93-006 which had lower PV in the
native starch than with Taiwan which originally had
high PV.
The pasting proles of the HMT samples under
alkaline condition were similar to the pasting proles of
milled starch pearls with high pH (Collado & Corke,
1998). It was also similar to the pasting prole of Amylomaize I (1315% starch concentration) pasted in 0.1
N NaOH which showed a high peak viscosity and
extensive breakdown on cooking that resembled that of
potato starch in water (Pomeranz, 1991) and which also
showed high cold paste viscosity on cooling. It appears
that, under alkaline conditions, only short periods of
exposure to high temperature, as in the process of
making starch pearls, is needed to attain this eect. In
making starch pearls, the granulated starch (50%
moisture) is roasted from 120180 C in open pans or
mechanical roasters for 8 to 10 min (Varadharaju,
Balasubramanian, & Parvathy, 1992).
3.2. Thermal properties
An increase in gelatinization temperature was
observed for the starches exposed to HMT under both
pH conditions in both genotypes (Table 2, Fig. 3). The
mean Tp of the untreated samples was 75.2 C for Taiwan and 70.9 C for 93-006, but the Tp for Taiwan
increased to 78.1 C while that of 93-006 increased to
79.9 C under alkaline conditions. Under HMT for 4 h
the Tp further increased to 84.3 C in Taiwan and 81.3 C
in 93-006 (`as-is' pH), and to 84.0 C in Taiwan and
86.8 C in 93-006 (pH 10). Further increase in exposure
time under `as-is' and pH 10 conditions did not signicantly change the Tp except that a signicant
Table 2
The mean gelatinization peak, TP C and enthalpy,
H, (J/g) of
sweetpotato genotypes Taiwan and 93-006 exposed to heat moisture
treatment in water and in alkaline conditions
Taiwan
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

`As-is' pH
TP

Time (h)

Fig. 2. The RVA viscoamylograph of sweetpotato starch from genotype 93-006 before and after heat moisture treatment at dierent
exposure times: (A) under `as-is' pH; (B) at pH 10. RVUrapid viscosity units.

0
4
8
16

H

75.2 c
84.3 a
84.3 a
83.6 b

93-006

pH 10

11.6
13.2
13.5
13.1

a
a
a
a

TP

H

78.1 c
84.0 b
85.0 a
85.0 a

17.7 a
13.6 b
12.2 b
11.9 b

`As-is'
TP
70.9
81.3
82.1
81.8

pH 10

H

b
a
a
a

9.8 a
10.9 a
11.9 a
12.9 a

TP
79.9
86.8
86.8
87.8

H
b
a
a
a

11.7 ab
10.6 b
12.6 ab
13.9 a

Means with the same letter in a column within each genotype are not
signicantly dierent (p<0.05).

L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Fig. 3. Dierential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) gelatinization endotherms of sweetpotato starch from genotype 93-006 before and after
heat-moisture treatment at dierent exposure time under `as-is' pH
and pH 10.

decrease was observed in Taiwan after 16 h HMT. In

control starches, the
H increased substantially in Taiwan as the pH was raised but only slightly in 93-006
(Table 2).
H had a non-signicant increase as the
starches were exposed to HMT (`as-is' pH), but in the
case of Taiwan (pH 10) there was a decrease in
H after
exposure to HMT. However, the
H for 4 to 16 h
exposure time was not signicantly dierent. For 93006, the
H under the two pH conditions did not dier
signicantly from the untreated samples. There was an
increase in the broadness of the gelatinization endotherm with HMT in both pH conditions (Fig. 2). A
broader gelatinization range at higher temperature was
also observed for wheat, potato (Kulp & Lorenz, 1981),
normal and amylomaize starches (Hoover & Manuel,
1996). The increase in gelatinization range diers by
botanic source. A greater increase in gelatinization
range was observed in potato starch compared to wheat
starch (Kulp & Lorenz). Furthermore, the gelatinization
temperature range of waxy maize starch is not aected

343

by annealing (Stute, 1992) nor by HMT (Hoover &

Manuel).
For annealed starches a narrowing of the gelatinization temperature was observed at higher temperature
(Jacobs et al., 1995; Larsson & Eliasson, 1991). Stute
(1992) pointed out that the alterations in the DSC curve
are sensitive indicators of the type of hydrothermal
treatment the starch has undergone. For annealed starches, the narrower peaks indicated greater homogeneity
during melting of crystallites and the swelling and
hydration of starch granules. The important factors
determining the sharpness of the peak are high levels of
water and an amorphous phase (Stute, 1992; Zobel,
1992). Marchant and Blanshard (1978) described
annealing broadly as a condition in which granules
assume a more stable conguration. This is viewed as
the realignment of polymer chains within the noncrystalline regions of the granule as well as in the crystallites (Zobel) or change in the coupling forces between
the crystallites and the amorphous matrix (Stute).
On the other hand, the broadening of the gelatinization endotherms could be viewed with reference to other
DSC studies (as in the case of Naegeli dextrins in
Donovan & Mapes, 1980), as deriving from granular
starch, which through gradual erosion of the amorphous phase by acid, led to increased crystallinity,
resulting in broadening of the DSC peak (Stute, 1992;
Zobel, 1992). The endotherm was interpreted as revealing the intrinsic stability and heterogeneity in size and
perfection of crystalline regions in granular starches
(Zobel). Starch-chain associations within the amorphous regions and the degrees of crystalline order are
altered during HMT. The magnitude of these changes
are dependent on the moisture content during heat
treatment and on the starch source (Hoover & Vasanthan, 1994).
3.3. Swelling volume and solubility
Under HMT, the swelling volume of starch decreased
from 32.3 to 13.0 ml/g in Taiwan and from 28.0 to 13.0
ml/g in 93-006 (`as-is' pH) after 16 h exposure. Under
alkaline conditions, the swelling volume of Taiwan
increased to 33.7 ml/g and 93-006 increased to 29.3 m/g
(Table 3). Under both pH conditions there was a considerable decrease in solubility. Slightly higher solubilities were observed for the heatmoisture treated
samples under alkaline conditions than at `as-is' pH.
Lower swelling factors and amylose leaching were
observed by Hoover, Vasanthan, Senanayake, and
Martin (1994) in HMT wheat, oat, lentil and potato
starches. Potato starch showed the greatest decrease in
swelling factor compared to oat and wheat starches, but
wheat, oat and potato starches showed similar amylose
leaching properties after HMT. However, increased
solubilities were observed in wheat and corn starch

344

L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Table 3
The mean swelling volume (SV) and solubilities of the sweetpotato
starch exposed to heat moisture treatment at `as-is' pH and at pH 10
Taiwan
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

`As-is' pH
SV (ml/g)
32.3 a
13.8 b
13.0 c
13.0 c

93-006
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

pH 10

Solubility %
14.6
10.9
11.2
11.1

a
b
b
b

SV (ml/g)

Solubility %

33.7 a
13.8 b
14.0 b
13.8 b

26.8 a
14.0 b
13.4 c
13.6 c

`As-is' pH
SV (ml/g)
28.0
13.0
13.0
13.0

a
b
b
b

pH 10

Solubility %

SV (ml/g)

Solubility %

14.7 a
11.0 c
11.0 c
11.5 b

29.3 a
13.4 b
13.6 b
13.4 b

21.7 a
12.2 b
11.8 c
12.3 b

Means with the same letter in a column within each genotype are not
signicantly dierent (p<0.05).

exposed to HMT (Kurakake et al., 1996; Kulp & Lorenz,

1981).
3.4. Texture of starch gel
A starch gel is a solidliquid system having a continuous network in which the liquid phase is entrapped.
Free amylose molecules form hydrogen bonds not only
with one another but also with amylopectin branches
extending from swollen granules, so the granules are
part of the solid continuous network (Peneld &
Campbell, 1990). The presence of amylose in the continuous phase will result in the formation of a strong gel
on cooling. From mixed amyloseamylopectin model
systems it was shown that amylopectin forms a continuous phase below 22% amylose (Hermansson &
Svegmark, 1996). This may have contributed to the
dierence in response of the two genotypes to the HMT
in terms of the texture of the starch gel.
In the untreated samples, for Taiwan (15.2% amylose)
the continuous phase in the starch gel should be amylopectin, while for 93-003 (28.5% amylose), the continuous phase should be amylose. This would account
for the great dierence in the texture of the untreated
starch gels (Table 4). The starch gel from 93-006 was
much harder (34.7 g) than that of Taiwan (18.1 g).
However, after HMT, a great increase in hardness was
observed in the starch gel from Taiwan, but not from
93-006 where the hardnesses of the treated and untreated
samples were not signicantly dierent. Theoretically,
an increase in amylose leaching and decrease in swelling
factor would increase gel rmness. Highly swollen
granules occurring between adjacent amylose chains
would hinder their association during retrogradation. In
potato starch (Hoover & Vasanthan, 1994), where a
great increase in gel rmness was observed, the large

Table 4
Textural attributes of starch gels from two sweetpotato genotypes,
Taiwan and 93-006, exposed to heat moisture treatment at `as-is' pH
condition
Taiwan
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

Hardness (g)

Adhesiveness (gs)

18.1 d
27.9 c
34.7 b
42.4 a

18.6 a
40.3 b
47.4 b
70.9 c

Hardness (g)

Adhesiveness (gs)

Resilience
ratio
0.29
0.05
0.06
0.06

a
b
b
b

93-006
Time (h)
0
4
8
16

34.7
32.9
31.7
32.6

a
a
a
a

41.0 a
44.0 a
44.8 a
61.2 b

Resilience
ratio
0.14
0.09
0.07
0.08

a
b
b
b

decrease in swelling factor negates the decrease in amylose leaching. Such may have also been the case in the
observed increased hardness of the starch gels from
HMT sweetpotato starch. Likewise, the rigidity of the
granular structure or `ghost' as postulated by Jacobs et
al. (1995) is also consistent with these ndings.
Under near neutral pH, Taiwan starch after HMT
showed increasing gel hardness, while 93-006 seemed to
be less aected. A general eect of HMT was great loss
of resilience [Fig. 4(A),(B)]. Under alkaline conditions, the
gels had a greater tendency for retrogradation and once
the gel was touched by the probe the gel broke with
release of water. The starch gels from the longest exposure time under alkaline HMT showed clear separation
from the liquid after overnight storage. This was not
observed in starch gels exposed to HMT under `as-is'
pH. Apparently storage at 45 C resulted in lower
energy levels which triggered further hydrogen bonding.
The gel structure is tightened and the water-holding
capacity is decreased (Peneld & Campbell, 1990).
Depending on the intended use, HMT could diversify
the utilization of root crops. We will discuss two products produced from sweetpotato starch: starch noodles
(Collado & Corke, 1997; Jeong, 1992; Quach, 1992;
Wang, Song, & Zhang, 1995) and starch pearls (Collado
& Corke, 1998), where swelling, solubility and retrogradation are critical for the quality of the product.
These products involve at least two heating processes
before they are consumed, the rst being critical to the
formation of the structure of the intermediate product.
The conditions for granulation of starch in the production of starch pearls (Magda, 1993; Raja, Abraham,
Sreemulanathan, & Mathew, 1979), and the preparation
of starch noodles (Timmins, Marter, Westby, & Rickard,
1992; Wang et al. 1995; Jin, Wu, & Wu, 1994) may be

L.S. Collado, H. Corke/Food Chemistry 65 (1999) 339346

Fig. 4. Texture proles of sweetpotato starch at 11% starch concentration from the genotype Taiwan (A) before and (B) after 4 h
exposure to heat moisture treatment.

considered a closed-packed system (50% moisture

content). A closed-packed system is obtained if the
granules have high swelling capacity or if starch concentration is very high. At very high starch concentrations, there will be insucient water to gelatinize all the
granules. The most important eect of close-packing is
that the leaching of amylose out of the granules will be
restrained. If amylose remains inside the swollen granules, it cannot form a continuous gel phase outside the
granules (Hermansson & Svegmark, 1996).
Furthermore, the heating times for gelatinization of
starch for the two products are short but under very
dierent conditions. The starch pearls are roasted (dry
heat) at 120180 C (Varadharaju et al., 1992) for 810
min and then further dried to 10% moisture by a stream of
hot air. Starch noodles are boiled or steamed (moist heat)
for 35 min (Timmins et al., 1992), immersed in cold
water for 35 min, chilled at refrigeration temperature
and then nally air-dried. After boiling in water, both
processes result in a translucent gummy gelled product.
In mungbean starch noodles and tapioca starch pearls,
micelles of retrograded amylose form a structural network
that resists disintegration during cooking (Mestres,
Colonna, & Buleon, 1988; Xu & Seib, 1993).
For starch noodles, the best substrates are those with
higher than 30% amylose content (Galvez, Resurreccion,

345

& Ware, 1994; Jin et al., 1994; Juliano, 1993; Lii &
Chang, 1981) which exhibit a type C Brabender
Viscoamylogram and high rate of retrogradation. It is
interesting to note that, under small to large scale production, sweetpotato starch is exposed to various forms
of hydrothermal treatments. Sometimes, starch noodles
are produced directly from the wet-milled starch under
small scale production, while others are produced from
sun-dried starch at cooperative village-level production.
Furthermore, in large scale operations, blast spray
driers are used where the starch is dried in split seconds
under temperatures greater than 100 C (Wheatley, personal communication).
In the case of starch pearls, a free swelling starch is
required to partially gelatinize and exude amylose under
the short exposure time to high temperature during
roasting and set a good surface nish (Collado & Corke,
1998; Xu & Seib, 1993). There is sucient evidence to
prove that adjustment of pH by the addition of alkali
during pearling could promote this functionality,
resulting in a smooth surface of the starch pearl. A high
tendency to retrograde as seen in the starch gels from
alkaline HMT starch may also hasten the setting of the
surface. Acidic starch pearls had rougher surfaces and
higher percentages of broken beads.
The eects of the various combinations of temperatures and moisture content to which the starch is intentionally or unintentionally exposed should be more
thoroughly studied to identify conditions for the development of favorable starch functionality for the intended
end use. Understanding of the interaction of genotype
and processing eects is essential to be able to understand
or model the eects of HMT on sweetpotato and other
starches. Further, an understanding of the basic process
of manufacture, including various thermal eects, of
traditional starch-based foods is essential in order to
enable design of appropriate scale-up technologies.

Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Christopher C. Wheatley, Processing Specialist for East Asia, Southeast Asia-Pacic
Region, International Potato Center, Bogor, Indonesia,
for his valuable suggestions and continuous support.
Financial support was received from the University of
Hong Kong Committee on Research and Conference
Grants, and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.
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