The structure of starch granules in fried battered products

This work studies the structure of starch granules during different steps in the production of frozen battered squid rings, using image analysis and microscopy techniques. Frozen battered squid was prepared with four different batter formulations including wheat flour, corn flour, salt and leavening agent and subjected to pre-frying, freezing and final frying to obtain an industrial product. A control product for each of the formulations was prepared with no pre-frying and no freezing steps. The control products, regardless of their formulation, showed most starch components occluded into the starch granules, while the final products presented more leaching of starch components out of the granules. The use of corn flour as an ingredient increased the water retention capacity of the batter, resulting in higher area values for starch granules in formulations where this ingredient is used. There were significant differences between some formulations in the size and shape of the large starch granule population, but no significant differences were observed for the small granule population. As regards the preparation steps, short thermal treatments such as pre-frying mainly affected the large starch granules, which are weaker