Isolation, composition, and physicochemical properties of starch from legumes: A review

The review focuses on the structural, morphological, and physicochemical properties of starch from legume sources. The objective was to summarize some essential properties which are well documented in case of cereal and tuber starches as compared to legume starches. Starch is isolated using the dry or wet milling techniques. The amylose content of legume starches varies from normal to high in the range of 17.00-51.69%. Moisture content, lipid, ash, and nitrogen content of the legume starches have been reported varying from 3.12-16.00%, 0.04-1.40%, 0.03-0.65%, and 0.00-0.43%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revealed the legume starch granules having varying shapes and dimensions like cereal and tuber starches. Low swelling, high solubility, and retrogradation of several legume starches indicate their higher functional properties as compared to cereal and potato starches. Pasting and thermal properties that have commonly been determined using rapid visco analyzer (RVA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) are also presented in this article. Starch is one of the most important food ingredients of legumes that may be employed for innumerable industrial applications. It exists with diverse forms and characteristics which offer a great scope of their applications with high technological value in both food and non-food industries.