New approach to study starch gelatinization applying a combination of hot-stage light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry.

To overcome the difficulty of the original polarizing microscope-based method in monitoring the gelatinization of starch, a new method for dynamically monitoring the gelatinization process, integral optical density (IOD), which was based on the digital image analysis technique, was proposed. Hot-stage light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques were coupled to study the dynamic changes of three types of starches: type A (corn starch), type B (potato starch), and type C (pea starch), during the gelatinization process in an excess water system. A model of response difference change of crystallite could represent the responding intensity of crystallization changes in the process of starch gelatinization. Results demonstrated that three crystalline types of starch underwent a process of swelling, accompanied with gradual disappearing of the crystallite. This difference was mainly associated with the diversity and composition of the starch structure. The IOD method was of advantage compared to the previous traditional methods that are based on a polarization microscope, such as counting the particle number and calculating polarization area methods, because it was the product of two parameters: optical density and area, which would be a response of both light intensity and area of birefringence light. The single peak in DSC corresponded to the combination of crystalline helix-helix dissociation and the reduction of the molecule helix-coil transition, while the gelatinization degree measured by the IOD method mainly corresponded to the helix-helix dissociation. The gelatinization mechanism could be revealed clearer in this study.