Effect of annealing and heat-moisture pretreatments on the oil absorption of normal maize starch during frying

The impacts of two hydrothermal pretreatments, annealing (ANN) and heat moisture treatment (HMT), on oilabsorption by normal maize starch (NMS) during frying were investigated using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The structural organizations of the fried samples were also evaluated using SEM, XRD, ATR-FTIR, and DSC, respectively. Both hydrothermal pretreatments significantly reduced the total oil content in the starch after frying, with the magnitude of the effect depending on the treatment conditions used. SEM showed that the pretreated fried starch granules preserved more of their original morphology. XRD, FTIR, and DSC showed that both pretreatments preserved more of the short-range double helices and long-range organizations within the orthorhombic crystalline structure for NMS during frying. The promoting effect of ANN/HMT on the interactions of starch molecules and the rearrangement of double helices were hypothesized to be responsible for the increased thermal stability of starch granules in the present work. As a result, fried starch pretreated by ANN/ HMT were more organized and more compact than fried NMS, thus inhibiting oil absorption during frying.

Automated summary

The hydrothermal pretreatments of annealing (ANN) and heat moisture treatment (HMT) significantly reduced the total oil content in normal maize starch (NMS) after frying, preserved more of the original morphology and structural organization of the starch granules, and increased the thermal stability of the starch granules during frying.