Abrupt changes in the rates of processes occurring during hydrothermal treatment of whole starchy foods around the gelatinization temperature––a review of the literature Original Research Article

The rate of processes such as water transfer, gelatinization, loss of soluble solids, volumetric expansion etc. occurring during hydrothermal treatment of whole starchy foods exhibits one common behavior: The plots of the rate constant specific to the given process versus temperature give a break-point temperature (Tbre) around the gelatinization temperature (Tgel). Some workers connected this phenomenon to starch gelatinization. The review of the pertinent works exhibited that the Tbre values are in the ranges of the gelatinization temperatures given in the literature. These ranges are large enough that the observed Tbre values could readily be within or close to them. The break-point phenomenon may potentially be a non-invasive simple method for determining the Tgel in whole starchy foods, e.g. in situ Tgel. This potential must be tested on different types of starchy foods by comparing the Tbre with measured Tgel of the same sample.