| Limited information is available on starch gelatinization of pasta and its relation to cooked pasta quality. Surfactants are often added to pasta products to improve their texture and to reduce surface stickiness, but the effects of surfactants and their interactions with starch or protein are not clearly understood. A better understanding of the role of starch could improve pasta processing and could allow use of nonconventional raw materials in pasta preparation. Researchers agree that protein content and gluten strength are primary factors influencing pasta quality.;Pasta was made from various wheat flours and starches were extracted from the flours and extruded into pasta using a modified method for mung bean starch noodle production. The influence of surfactant, monoglyceride (MG) or sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL), on convertional pasta and "starch pasta" was investigated. Objectives were also to evaluate changes of surface and internal structure of pasta made from various conventional flours and "starch pasta" before and after cooking. Ultrastructure studies of "starch pasta" and pasta were examined by scanning electron microscopy and light microscopes.;Optimal cooking time for "starch pasta" was shorter than pasta. In absence of coagulated protein, "starch pasta" strands fractured into small pieces and did not swell in contrast to pasta made from flour after 20 minutes cooking. Cooking qualities of hard wheat pasta were similar to semolina pasta. Pasta made from soft wheat flour was slightly softer and stickier than pasta made from semolina or hard wheat flours. "Starch pasta" made from soft wheat starch was softer and stickier than those made from semolina or hard wheat starch (p < 0.05). Addition of monoglyceride significantly increased surface stickiness of cooked "starch pasta" (p < 0.05). Firmness and stickiness of cooked pasta were not influenced by surfactant addition (p < 0.05). Cooked "starch pasta" was softer and as sticky as cooked pasta made from the respective flours.;Cooked "starch pasta" had honeycomb-like internal structure similar to cooked pasta. The surface of cooked pasta is different to that of cooked "starch pasta." There were still some ungelatinized starch particles observed in both pasta and "starch pasta" after al dente' cooking time. This indicates that coagulated protein acts as a barrier to the penetration of water by the pasta as well as gelatinized starch.;Determination of pasta cooking quality is more dependent on a continuous protein network than the physicochemical properties of gelatinized starch. Swelling of cooked pasta is mainly due to the hydration of protein. Differences among cooked "starch pasta" could be minor factors in pasta cooking quality.;Mung bean starch noodles are one kind of oriental noodles. The aims of this study were to study physicochemical properties of starches isolated from Colorado grown legumes (chick peas, peanut beans, pinto beans, and red beans) and to find a feasible, less expensive starch source for making starch noodles. Red beans had very low starch yield during extraction. The cooking qualities of pinto bean and peanut bean starches were not as good as those of mung beans and/or chick pea starch noodles. Although mung bean starch is considered to be the best material for making starch noodles, chick pea starch noodles had slightly better appearance, texture, and overall acceptability than mung bean starch noodles even better than commercial mung bean starch noodles. |
