A study of annealing and freeze-thaw stability of acid-modified tapioca starches by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

Tapioca starch was partially hydrolyzed by 6% (w/v) hydrochloric acid at room temperature for various lengths of time. Annealing and freeze-thaw stability of the acid-modified starches were studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). In the annealing study, as the hydrolysis time increased, the effect of annealing on narrowing and shifting the endothermic peak to a higher temperature was decreased. The endothermic transition of annealed 48-h acid-modified tapioca starch showed a narrow peak and a broad shoulder, corresponding to the melting of the amylopectin double helices (crystalline regions) and the retrograded partially hydrolyzed amylose, respectively. This effect of annealing on the sharpening of the endotherm was less pronounced on acid-modified tapioca starches annealed for 192 h and 768 h, respectively. These results indicated that annealing leads to more homogeneous crystallites and this effect is enhanced when the material contains more amorphous and homogeneous domains. In the case of the freeze-thaw stability study, the melting endotherm of recrystallized amylopectin became larger with increasing hydrolysis time. The first detectable endotherm of native tapioca retrograded gel was observed after five cycles, while all acid-modified retrograded gels showed the melting endotherm after only one cycle. Increasing hydrolysis time may increase the proportion of short chain amylose and amylopectin molecules, which are able to form double helices, resulting in an increase in the enthalpy and a higher retrogradation rate of the gel.