Interactions of starch with small ligands in starch-containing food systems and their influence on flavor and texture

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C96.0087

Key words (English)

Food flavor quality; starch flavor interactions; amylose complexation; ; flavor retention; inclusion complexes

Research programs (English)

COST-Action 96 - Interactions of food matrix with small ligands influencing flavour and texture

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise: ETH Zürich Institut für Lebensmittelwissenschaften

Partners and International Organizations (English)

B, CH, CZ, D, DK, E, F, FIN, GR, H, I, IRL, N. NL, S, UK

Abstract (English)

Flavor comprises taste and odor and presents one of the key attributes determining the sensory properties and the acceptability of foods. Aroma quality is not only dependent on the concentration of volatile aroma compounds in the food, but on their interactions with the food matrix which in turn control aroma retention during processing and storage, and aroma release during eating. This may be caused by several principles such as varying solubility of volatiles in the aqueous and in the lipid phase of a food, diffusion control leading to an entrapment of volatiles in the solidified food matrix, or by interactions of volatiles as ligands with proteins, starch and other polysaccharides. In starch-containing foods, complexation reactions are of particular importance in flavor retention and release. Starch consists of linear amylose and branched amylopectin. The linear amylose fraction is able to form inclusion complexes due to helication of the polymer with suitable ligands. The complexation of iodine leading to the deep blue color of starch is probably the best known example for this type of interaction. Besides increasing volatile retention, complexation of aroma components with amylose may also alter the rheological properties and the texture of the product. In the present research project emphasis was put on the detailed elucidation of the complexation mechanism of selected ligands and its influence on flavor retention and on the structure and rheological properties of starch dispersions containing still considerable amounts of fragmens of swollen starch granules which would also be present in most real food products. Depending on the type of ligands, complexation leads either to the formation of a soft gel, to the precipitation of most of the complexes, or simple to an inceased turbidity of the system. Some ligands are placed in the cavity of the helix itself, others probably in the free space between the helices which form crystalline regions. When complexation takes place, concentration of volatiles in the headspace above the dispersions is greatly reduced, indicating an improved flavor retention. Based on these models, the behavior of aqueous starch-containing food systems with the addition of volatile flavor compounds has become more predictable, thus contributing the optimization of flavor and texture quality of foods.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C96.0087