Abstract:
Commercially available potato starch, sweet potato starch, mung bean starch, and corn starch were used as controls to investigate the granule morphology, amylose and amylopectin content, gelatinization property, freeze-thaw stability, and gel texture of the starch obtained from Quercus variabilis Bl. acorn grown in the Qinba mountain area. These properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA), and texture profile analysis (TPA). The results showed that the granules of Quercus variabilis Bl. acorn starches were kidney-, triangular-, oval-, and sphere-shaped, respectively, with an average particle size of 9.4 μm, which is smaller than that of the control starches. The gelatinization temperature of the acorn starch was 71.23 ℃ and the viscosity of gelatinized acorn starch was higher than that of corn starch and lower than that of potato, mung bean, or sweet potato starches. The hot-paste stability of acorn starch was higher than that of sweet potato, mung bean, or potato starches, and lower than that of corn starch. The retrogradation rate of acorn starch was higher than that of potato, corn, and sweet potato starches, and lower than that of mung bean starch. The freeze-thaw stability of acorn starch paste was higher than that of potato starch and lower than that of mung bean, corn, or sweet potato starches. At the same starch concentration, the hardness, gumminess, and chewiness of the acorn starch gel were lower than those of mung bean starch and higher than those of corn, potato, and sweet potato starches. The springiness of the acorn starch gel was higher than that of potato starch, lower than that of sweet potato starch, and the same as that of corn and mung bean starches. The cohesiveness and resilience of acorn starch gel were higher than those of control starches. Therefore, the starch from Quercus variabilis Bl. corn is suitable to be used as auxiliary material for quality improvement in starch-based gel foods including noodles, vermicelli, glass noodles, and jelly, and as a stabilizer in sugar and baking industry. This starch, however, is not suitable for frozen foods.