Non-chemically modified food starches

Abstract

A process for producing thermally inhibited starch, specifically thermally inhibited non-pregelatinized granular starch is described, resulting in a viscostable starch product. The process comprising providing an alkaline starch, specifically an alkaline non-pregelatinized granular starch, having a pH of at least 8; subjecting the starch to a hydrothermal treatment, specifically to obtain a hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch, said hydrothermal treatment being at a temperature of 45-200° C. with steam at a steam pressure of 0.1-15 bar or a gas mixture comprising water vapor at a partial water vapor pressure of 0.1-15 bar; dehydrating the starch, specifically the hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch, to a moisture content of 2 wt % or lower and subjecting the starch to a thermal treatment by heating the starch to a temperature of 120-190° C. to obtain viscostability, cooling and optionally further processing the starch.

1 . A thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch having viscostability at pH 2.5-7.5. 
     
     
         2 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 1 , having a whiteness value L of at least 80 on the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) scale. 
     
     
         3 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 2 , having a whiteness value L of at least 85 on the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) scale. 
     
     
         4 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 3 , having a whiteness value L of at least 90 on the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) scale. 
     
     
         5 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 1 , being a waxy root and/or waxy tuber starch. 
     
     
         6 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 5 , being a waxy potato starch. 
     
     
         7 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 1 , having a viscosity during a hold phase, when measured at a pH of 5-7.5, 50-85% of the peak viscosity of the corresponding native starch. 
     
     
         8 . The thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 7 , having a breakdown viscosity of less than 5%. 
     
     
         9 . A food product comprising a thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         10 . A process for producing thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch comprising:
 (a) providing an alkaline non-pregelatinized granular starch having a pH of at least 7.2;   (b) subjecting the starch to a hydrothermal treatment to obtain a hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch, the hydrothermal treatment being at a temperature of 100-170° C. with
 (i) steam at a steam pressure of 0.1-15 bar, wherein:
 (A) at a given temperature T, the steam pressure is 0.3 bar above equilibrium steam pressure p(e), at the p(e) or below the p(e); or 
 (B) at a given steam pressure p, the temperature is 10° C. below dew point or vaporization point T(e), at the T(e) or above the T(e); or 
 
 (ii) a gas mixture comprising water vapor at a partial water vapor pressure of 0.1-15 bar, wherein:
 (A) at a given temperature T, the partial water vapor pressure is 0.3 bar above equilibrium partial water vapor pressure p(e), at the p(e) or below the p(e); or 
 (B) at a given partial water vapor pressure p, the temperature is 10° C. below dew point or vaporization point T(e), at the T(e) or above the T(e); 
 
   (c) dehydrating the hydrothermally treated non-pregelatinized granular starch to a moisture content of 2 wt % or lower;   (d) subjecting the starch to a thermal treatment by heating the starch to a temperature of 120-190° C. to obtain viscostability; and   (e) cooling and optionally further processing the starch.   
     
     
         11 . A thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch obtainable by the process according to  claim 10 .