Effect of annealing on starch–palmitic acid interaction

The effects of annealing on the complexing of added palmitic acid (PA) and on the physicochemical properties of starch were studied. Palmitic acid was used because of its predominance in starch lipids. Starches naturally low in lipids, including potato, tapioca, and waxy corn, were subjected to the PA treatment. Common corn starch, which is high in lipids, was also included for comparison. More PA was complexed by annealed starches than by native starches and the amount of bound PA was mainly influenced by the amylose content. The introduction of PA decreased the gelatinization temperature and increased the gelatinization range of both native and annealed potato and tapioca starches. Leaching of amylose was reduced by the annealing treatment and further decreased by adding PA. Annealing did not change the swelling power of the PA-complexed starches. A small portion of the added PA formed complexes with amylopectin and still remained in the Naegeli dextrins after 10 days of acid hydrolysis. The reorganization of starch molecules with starch granules from annealing strongly affected the amount of complexed PA and some physicochemical properties of the introduced starches.