Changes of banana starch by chemical and physical modification

Detailed studies have been carried out on banana, Musa var. valery native and modified starches (gelatinized, phosphorylated, cross-linked phosphorylated and hydroxypropylated). Starch accounted for 33.8% of the banana dry weight of 99% of purity with compact granules irregularly shaped with elongated and spheroid forms (14-88 mu in width and 21-108 mu in length). Amylose content was 40.7%, lambda(max) of the iodine complex was 563 nm and L parameter of the CIELAB colour scale was low of 73.60. Hydroxypropyl banana starch had more than 50% higher water binding capacity than the native starch. Banana valery starch had fairly restricted swelling power and low solubility. Chemical modification produced improvement in those properties. Phosphoylated and hydroxypropylated banana starches showed improvement in clarity and phosphate starch has shown the best freeze-thaw stability. C type X-ray spectra was assigned to banana starch. Hydroxypropyl starch and starch phosphate have shown significant decrease in initial temperature of gelatinization. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.